Chapter 4

Putting a new roof over my head was much easier now when I had a second set of helping hands that was perfectly willing to pinch whatever tools I needed from a building contractor's warehouse in the town surrounding the Shihoin Clan country mansion – which was where Kisuke was staying with his best friend. He didn't know why I insisted that he eventually return all the tools when I was done with them. Stealing to survive was the default way of life in Rukongai for those who were poor and since I didn't even have two coins to rub together he thought that I should keep it. I retorted that it was one thing doing it when one had no choice, but I certainly did have a choice.

The new location of the place was five kilometers upstream of the river, on some decent solid high ground just in case of there was flooding in the future, on a hill that was decently forested so that it wouldn't be easy to spot from the ground or the air. It was covered in a large forest of bamboo, which would be very handy as a roughly uniform building material.

It would actually be a house with four walls and a roof this time. The plans I drew up, thanks to the parchment, brush and ink borrowed from Kisuke and a metric ruler of my own make, fascinated the boy and he had watched eagerly as I worked on it. The house would be a basic rectangular shape, eight meters by four by three. It was quite difficult, Technical Drawing hadn't been my best subject in High School, but I knew just building a house by 'eyeing it' would quickly lead to it falling apart. Kisuke helped whenever he visited and he was especially helpful digging the foundations.

It was when I had finally finished the walls and floors after three weeks of hard work (considering I still had to take time to fish and gather food) that Kisuke finally brought his friends with him as well. It was inevitable that they would start to question where he disappeared off to so regularly.

They arrived as I was busy laying out the frames which would eventually support the roof.

Kisuke's voice greeted, "Mel!" I had been aware of their approach of course, there was no mistaking my younger friend's spiritual power, there were two unknown ones with him this time.

I waved at him as he entered the clearing I had made the house in, "Hello Kisuke." Following in his wake was a girl who I estimated matched my own age, she was dark skinned with golden colored eyes set in a pretty heart shaped face, framed by short purple hair. I wondered if it was a dye job or if it actually grew that way. She was dressed as simply as Kisuke, though her yellow frock was longer and reached her knees. Her mouth quirked as she saw me, her eyes twinkled at Kisuke and teasingly elbowed him the ribs, whispering something that made the blond boy blush furiously. Following the girl was another boy; shorter than Kisuke, a stocky build with dark braided hair pulled back into a pony tail. He actually wore black calf-length pants and a shirt. His eyes bugged out somewhat when he saw me, but he practically fainted when the dark skinned girl to his left…

"Ah, good morning Mel, pleased to meet you," she promptly pulled her frock over her head and disrobed completely, chucking it at Kisuke.

"Yoruichi! Don't…" the dark haired boy complained with a long suffering sigh.

"Oh shut it Tessai," Yoruichi waved a hand dismissively. "Kisuke's new friend doesn't care, he doesn't, and I don't, so you shouldn't either."

I grinned at the carefree attitude I was sensing from Yoruichi, and she carried herself so naturally in her birthday suit that I instantly felt that I was looking at a kindred spirit, so to speak. Her endowment was slightly larger than mine, though I was curvier around the hips.

I bowed to her briefly. "It's good to finally meet you, Yoruichi. I hope you'll forgive me if I don't greet you properly. I don't know how to interact with nobility."

The girl laughed. "Che, I don't care much about that hoity-toity nonsense, only when I'm at official functions because it's expected of me. Here, I'm Yoruichi Shihoin, end of story. The guy who's head is about to explode is Tessai Tsukabishi."

"Tessai," I greeted him only slightly inclining my head.

He was firmly staring at the ground. "Nice to meet you too, Mel."

"I would invite you in," I jerked a thumb at the incomplete house behind me, "but as you can see, not finished."

Yoruichi walked forward with a lithe grace that led me to suspect she would be good dancer. "Most newcomers in Soul Society just try to find a town or city and turn to crime or if they are lucky find a job somewhere. Some just do nothing and wander the streets, expecting someone else to make their lives better, yet here you are making a place for yourself."

"What's the point of the afterlife where you can live for possibly thousands of years, and you don't do anything with that gift?"

Yoruichi folded her arms and nodded in agreement with the sentiment. "I also want to offer my congratulations on your first Hollow purification."

I grinned at Kisuke. I really shouldn't have been surprised that he told that story to his friends once he had decided to introduce me. "I had surprise on my side and I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a Soul Slayer."

"People usually get overcome with fear at the mere sight and feel of a Hollow, even Death god students at the Shino Academy take a while to overcome that fear."

"I'm lucky God saw fit to bless me with power, it would be criminal to not use it in defense of a life."

Yoruichi arched an eyebrow at me and suddenly laughed, giving me a hug. She turned to the shy boy "I see what you like in her, Kisuke. Oi Tessai, lift your head, you're not going to do much good helping our new friend with this roof otherwise."

"Yoruichi, you know how uncomfortable I get when you're like this," Tessai gestured vaguely to her form. "You shouldn't be…"

"Tessai, Tessai," she sighed. "Fine, sit there and be bored while Kisuke and I help." I wondered what his problem was. He wasn't young enough to still be at the 'girls are disgusting' stage. My puzzlement at the behavior was clear on my face and Yoruichi explained. "He thinks me walking around like this is not proper behavior for the future head of the Shihoin Clan, even though there's not a soul for nearly twenty spirit miles in every direction." Yoruichi rubbed her hands together. "Alright Mel, what do we do?"

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With a third pair of hands we finished three quarters of the roof frames on that day, all the while Yoruichi and I chatted up a storm with Kisuke only occasionally contributing, whilst Tessai sulked in front of the firepit occasionally muttering something and then flinging spiritually conjured fire onto the wood, and then extinguishing it by yet another muttered spell that threw water onto it. I was initially fascinated by the display and wondering how I could convince Tessai to teach me the basics of spiritual magic.

Yoruichi and I soon discovered that we had a shared passion for the unarmed martial arts or what she called Hakuda, and soon we were both trading stories and explanations of the various forms of both that style and Ninjitsu. I immediately concluded that Hakuda was a more 'flashy' and elaborate style than Ninjitsu, as the latter heavily favored 'Economy of Movement' and getting very close to your opponent to deliver strikes that naturally flowed from one into the other. Hakuda had some of this, but because it had been a style developed for a Death god who could move with blinding speed, run on air, and hit with extreme force, it meant that it was naturally more elaborate.

Before the three left back to the Shihoin countryside mansion, we even had a bit of a spar. Yoruichi was magnificent; there was no other way to describe it. She moved with flash step that was easily double mine and I had the sense that she was holding back. Every attack I deflected was fluidly turned into another attack that got under my guard, whilst even when I managed to get her off balance, or land a light slap to indicate a strike; she had either recovered or had landed a hit of her own. It really didn't surprise me. Yoruichi had been trained since she could walk with a dedicated sensei, and that pretty much trumped my ninety minutes of Ninjitsu class three times a week

She raised a hand after our third bout to stop me from attacking again. "Interesting style. When you land a hit it's not actually just one strike but three or even four hits in one movement of the arm and leg. Not to mention all of them are attacking vital points, on a human."

"Aha, but a Hollow wouldn't have those," I nodded in understanding.

"Exactly, most have bestial shapes that mean you can only take them down with sheer power; Hakuda is geared towards that if necessary."

My new friends said their goodbyes soon afterward and all three vanished into flash step.

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Of course, besides the daily survival chores and the building of the roof, which could only be done with two people, over the next few weeks I found myself with free time which I spent practicing both Ninjitsu and the Hakuda that Yoruichi showed me. Most of my training was without a partner or opponent limited me to drilling katas, attacks and counters against imaginary targets and roughly hewn wooden dummies of my own make. I had to carefully control my power so as to not reduce the thing to splinters. I couldn't ignore training with weapons though. It hadn't been my favorite thing in the dojo back in the living world, but I did have preferred weapons. So I cut a Bo staff out of a long leftover piece of bamboo from the house's construction and sanded the edges to a smooth finish.

I also set about with further exploration of my new world now aided with flash step, my new staff and a bit of food in a sling. It really helped that I had managed to increase my speed to roughly twenty two meters per second, with the help of a little trick Yoruichi had shown me. By flaring my spiritual power ahead of me to create the equivalent of a wind shield, the air no longer blasted against my body to create the large amounts of drag which had held me back previously. I really looked forward to the future when my control was good enough to create an aerodynamic shield shape akin to a sports car.

I decided to head south and it was after nearly nineteen kilometers when I found the first sign of civilization. The forest had changed to tall sprawling grasslands and I alighted on a hill overlooking a town. It had a circular configuration of ring roads cut further into smaller pie pieces with smaller roads. The buildings were rather eye opening; it felt like I was looking at a small town cut from sixteenth century China, the curved tile roofs, walls and the ornate gates at the either ends of the place. People walked everywhere and I even saw rickshaw carts drawn by extremely fit men, the only thing missing from the picture were horses.

I didn't get closer because I saw that every person was clothed and just casually walking through there was sure to raise a ruckus. I certainly could flash step on the roofs and perhaps steal an outfit of sorts but didn't want to deprive someone of their own clothes. Perhaps the next time Yoruichi visited I could ask her for some unassuming outfit that I could borrow.

I turned around and flash stepped back north until I reached the forest and stopped to eat my midday meal. I was halfway through my nuts, looking wistfully in the direction of the town. I really wished I could just throw all caution and fear to the wind and just casually stroll through the town.

'Do it.'

I was on my feet in a trice, heart racing. Looking around the area and squinted into the forest. Where had that voice come from?

'You shouldn't give a damn. That anyone would dare to presume to clothe us in their shame and unnaturalness.'

It was a woman's voice, smooth as silk and lilting the words in an accent that was so familiar that its name was on the tip of my tongue, yet I couldn't get it out. The last statement was laced with a stern anger. Again, I couldn't determine the source of the voice. It always seemed to be coming from behind me, as if someone was standing over my shoulder and whispering in my ear, but whenever I turned around, no one was there.

"What the fuck?" I commented to the air around me. Was there some invisible person around here? Looking at the grass I saw no unnatural depressions that feet would make, but then the person could just be standing on air just above the level of the grass. If I'd had some soft sand in large quantity I could…

'Don't waste your time. You can't find me that way.'

Okay, my visitor can read my thoughts and I doubted I was going nuts and suddenly developing a split personality. I had no problems with the recent relative solitude of my existence. I picked up my stuff and decided to go home to think. I made a slight mistake on the route back that led me to stumble upon a dirt road that snaked further east through the forest. I gathered that it was used to link the town I had seen to other towns towards the north.

After barely five minutes of flash stepping on the tree tops along it, I spied what could only be trouble.

Six men were crouched in hidden positions behind bushes. Their rough disposition, body language, clothes, and the katana's sheathed across their backs told me they were yet another throwback to the past…Highwaymen. Two heavy carriages approached slowly in the distance, drawn by a pair of mules each, being directed by a driver and someone holding a gleaming spear to provide security.

Two against six, and once those guys got inside the range of those spears, it was all over.

'Get rid of them.'

I almost fell out of the tree as my concentration was disturbed by the lilted voice.

' What?' I hesitantly thought back.

'You heard me. Where do you think those supplies are going?'

'The town.'

'Exactly. I can't tolerate this crime about to take place in your home and neither do you.'

'My home is still a ways away.' I can't believe that I was talking to myself.

'Semantics and technicality, this forest, that town, Soul Society is now our home. Remember, all that is required for evil to flourish is for good men or women in this case, to do nothing.'

'They've got swords that can cut through my bamboo staff with a solid hit.'

'Can they?' the question had an enigmatic, amused tone. 'In any case, I suggest attacking when they attack the caravan, maximizing your surprise and liberal use of flash step."

There were roughly a hundred meters to go before I judged the ambush would be sprung on the caravan.

'Okay, just…who are you?'

'You must earn that knowledge.'

'Earn? I'm afraid I'm going nuts here talking to a 'distinct' voice in my head and…'

'You're not going crazy, Melanie.'

'Psych patients at nuthouses probably hear that all the time from their hallucinations.'

'Think of me as your guardian angel if it would make you feel better.'

'Guardian angel?'

'Hey, you've got the strength to smash through rock and tree, you've seen spiritual energy manipulated into spells, and now you're skeptical of a guardian angel?'

'We'll talk later, the caravan is almost right on top of those guys…'

I tensed and flash stepped away from the impending battle, hiding my sling bag behind a tree, before returning to my previous perch. I saw the glint of steel as the highwaymen drew their swords. There was a distinct bird whistle and all six men charged out of their hiding spots, yelling in a war cry to each other and to frighten their targets. I picked my own target and flash stepped.

I alighted right behind a highwayman about to slash one of the mules with his katana. My staff sang through the air and slammed right into the man's temple, before I flash stepped again and hit another through the sternum with enough force to send him flying and crashing into a tree. I came to a stop nearly thirty meters away in the air and evaluated the effect I'd had.

The two downed robbers had clearly thrown everything into confusion; even the men in the caravan had seemingly stopped fighting and were looking around frantically.

'Keep them guessing!'

I took the voice's advice and chose my target before world blurred around me again. My staff rapped another robber across the back of the knees with such force that he promptly did a clumsy backward somersault and went down screaming. I halted myself in the air again on the other side of the road.

One of the three remaining highwaymen decided that it was better to run away at this point. I flash stepped right in front of him and used my staff to trip him up, using his own momentum to send him crashing to the hard gravel road and a strike to the back of the head sent him into the land of nod. I vanished from my enemy's sight again, but passed right by another robber, intending to clobber him in the stomach and finishing him off with a blow to the back of the head.

This guy had to have had some modicum of power, because he just barely managed to bring his katana into a parry. My staff clashed directly with the sharp edge of the sword, and the two competing forces should've cleaved any normal piece of bamboo clean in two. Instead, the ringing sound of steel meeting steel resounded throughout the area. My flash step carried me away and I stopped fifty meters down the road and examined my staff in astonishment.

Not a scratch. It still looked like a fibrous natural piece of bamboo, but then I finally noticed the difference in weight.

'No time for that. Keep going!'

I turned around and saw that the two spearmen guarding the caravan were finally doing something useful and attacking the remaining robbers. This was a much more even contest though it was immediately clear that the spearmen weren't up to the skill of their opponents. I focused again on the robber that had deflected my attack and flash stepped.

The man's sword was right at that moment busy parrying a spear, and my strikes hit him first across the left knee and then a relatively light tap on the back of the head to ensure unconsciousness. I kicked myself for my stupidity the moment after I had done it. I might be merciful in leaving the highwaymen with wounds which would take months to come back from, but the spearmen had no such compunctions. The guy in question yelled in triumph and promptly stuck the blade through the robber's chest.

The last highwayman fled the moment he saw his comrade die, but the second spearman promptly palmed his weapon and threw it rather impressively to embed it in the fleeing robber's back. I shook my head from my new perch up a tree some hundred meters down the road. It was when the other spearman hopped down from the carriage clearly intent on permanently finishing off the other robber I had downed that once again that strange feeling overcame me. As if I wasn't the one making the decision, yet it was me. Is this what schizophrenics felt like?

I vanished into flash step, and as if I had known all along what the extra weight of my staff meant, I pulled on the staff two ridges from one end and it split open, allowing me to unsheathe the silvery chrome blade of a sword perfectly hidden within. It near melodiously, beautifully sang through the air and cleaved the spearblade in two. I barely flickered into existence as I changed direction and plucked the spear still embedded in the other highwayman's back and came to a stop ten meters away, but this time finally allowed the startled spearman to see me.

I didn't know how I looked to him, with my back turned to him and long hair reaching down to my calves but I could imagine the sight of me with a gleaming long blade in my right hand, and a spear and three-quarters of a Bo staff in my left hand made it pretty clear that I was the one who had given them a hand.

"You've killed two, isn't that enough?" Out of the corner of my eye I saw he was either entranced by me or stupefied into being unable to respond. I turned my body to face him, relieving the kink in my neck. The second spearman and the two drivers were now there as well and promptly mirrored each other's reaction. "Good grief, you'd think they'd never seen a woman before."

The voice in my head laughed mischievously. 'Oh, you should get used to this.'

'What?'

'I'll explain later. First deal with them.'

"Oi, idiots!" I snapped my fingers in front of their faces and they blinked stupidly before a modicum of intelligence crept back into their features.

"W-w-what?" the driver was a skinny young man who looked like he was about to wet himself, as was the others.

The voice advised, 'Easy on the spiritual pressure, Melanie.'

I sighed realizing that I had amped myself up a bit during the events, and quickly lowered my output.

"Now, that better?" The four men nodded though I could still see there was not a lot of thinking happening in their heads. "Good. Tie the survivors up, take them with you to town, let'em heal." I casually rested my sword on my shoulder, emphasizing that I was the one in charge here. "Take the two dead ones as well, bury them properly."

The older of the spearmen stuttered out, "Uh…Mistress…why should…"

"You've killed two, you've made your point, but it doesn't help if you kill their buddies so they can't take word back to whoever pulls their strings."

"That's what we want to avoid," said the other driver, wringing his hands. "Our town would be under siege from the criminal gangs if they knew we were effectively opposing them, which is what they will assume. I will admit Mistress that you are certainly capable but you can't be everywhere and can be outnumbered. When these robbers just don't come back it'll be assumed they struck out on their own, or landed a good score somewhere, or perhaps were taken out by the Shihoin Clan."

The spearman with the busted weapon mused, "It is rather stupidly brazen for them to attack one of the roads leading from Shihoin Town. I wonder what they were thinking."

I sighed again at another example of how the afterlife was just as patently unfair as life had been. I looked at the unconscious forms of the robbers and had to remind myself that there was no real 'police force' or 'rule of law' in Rukongai beyond the 'law of the jungle'. I was guilty of thinking that there was a true country and all that it implied around me.

'Protecting people is rarely so black and white, Melanie.' The voice intruded into my thoughts. 'Even in your old home country, the police would often hunt down murderers and hijackers, and cook the books that they had resisted arrest rather than put them in an over-clogged justice system that would have those same men out on the streets within a week awaiting a trial that would take another year.'

'I know that,' I groused. I chucked the spear back at its owner who caught it deftly and set about the grim task with little regret or fanfare. I sheathed my own blade so that it formed a Bo staff again and abruptly realized…

'Ha ha, took you long enough!'

'You're my Soul Slayer!'

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The next morning I was sitting in front of the fire pit and watched my unassuming Soul Slayer lay on the log next to me. I had finally remembered what type of weapon it was; a Shikomizue, which literally translated to 'prepared cane', but this one, disguised a Renaissance Rapier or Side-Sword within itself. Whenever I completely unsheathed it, the bamboo hilt would vanish and I was left with a woven red hilt and rounded pommel, protected by a crossguard in the shape of the number eight. The blade had a length of roughly ninety centimeters, double-edged and tapered, I could cut and thrust equally well with such a sword. Resheathing it instantly brought its disguise back and I was left a Bo staff made of bamboo.

'Why do I have you so soon? I thought Death gods get them only after years of training, I mean Yoruichi doesn't even have one…'

'Just because it's not apparent doesn't mean her blade is not there,' the soul blade explained. 'We are a reflection of our wielder and their power and manifest at your will. The blade comes when someone of power has need of it, and you Melanie, with your luck ran into a rather powerful Hollow. That was the first impetus to my creation; the second was your desire to affect the world around you for the better, and finally your very instinct for survival. Your training and discipline that you carried over from the living world and that which you picked up here helped as well.'

'Of course, necessity was part of it too,' I nodded in understanding.

'Exactly.'

'So what do I call you?'

'Ah, that's a problem. If I say my name is….then you can't hear me.'

'Why can't I hear your name?'

'Because it's within your soul, and it's you who must find it.'

'That sucks, I don't want to call you something so impersonal like 'soul sword'…or Shikomizue.'

'I'm touched that you feel that way, but it can't be helped and I recommend against using a name of your own devising. It will only impede your search for my true name.'

'And how do I find your name?'

'I can only tell you that you must gain proficiency over all that is within my power.'

'And what is within your power?'

'You will know when you see or feel it, you've already just barely touched upon one of my powers yesterday.'

I huffed in frustration but understood that any skill or power was something earned, a price had to be paid for it, whether it was training, study, practice or the gaining of knowledge. There had to be a balance on the scale.

I cursed as my mind saw fit to give me a snapshot of the caravan guard killing the highwaymen and the effort to bury the bodies – that I had at least been able to convince them to do. I remembered killing my first antelope, it had left me feeling what was called 'buck fever', and usually manifested in some form of manic behavior as you came down from the adrenaline high, in my case, my left arm had shook uncontrollably for a few minutes. Yesterday I had been indirectly responsible for six deaths, and there was nothing like 'buck fever', just numbness and a slight case of nausea as the acrid copper stench of blood had reached my nose. Shouldn't I be feeling horrible? And did the fact that I didn't feel that way, make me horrible?

'Melanie, if you had not intervened, what would have happened?'

'I know,' I nodded. 'I just have to get used to the idea…but…'

'Remember this rule; kill always seeing the individual trees for the forest its part of. If one tree gets a disease or a parasite, it must be cut down and burned to preserve the entire forest. As humans are intelligent this adds a bit of complexity to the equation though, the four surviving highwaymen, the village people clearly pointed out why they had to die…doing so prevented a far greater evil and suffering.'

I mentally nodded in understanding, but my attention was drawn at that point to three approaching power concentrations. Yoruichi, Kisuke and Tessai. They emerged from the forest and greeted me in their unique ways as usual; Kisuke with his shy wave and blush, whilst Tessai gave a gruff hello and nod.

"I've got a suggestion today," Yoruichi proclaimed as she broke from our hug. I noticed she was wearing a halfway decent travelling robe today "I've talked it over with my Uncle and he's agreed, how about you stay for a visit at the mansion?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was rather amazed at you surviving and living out here so successfully and wants to meet you, but I also want to show you the civilized portions of Soul Society."

"Very well, I accept…" I quickly lost my smile. "But I'd have to wear clothes."

"So? What's so bad about that?" Tessai questioned.

'Uh…sword?'

'No.'

'But…there's has to be some middle ground…'

'Hmmm…let me think…that should work…'

I blinked as Yoruichi snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Melanie, hellooo, anybody in there?"

"Sorry, it's just that…let me explain," I walked over to where my Shikomizue was laying and picked it up.

Yoruichi frowned, "How's a piece of bamboo gonna help explain?" I smirked briefly before unsheathing my new Rapier in one fluid movement, but keeping it lowered and pointed to the ground. Tessai gasped and Kisuke's eyes widened briefly. Yoruichi smirked and clapped briefly, "Very nice. Interesting style of blade that and it even disguises itself. I had wondered how long it would take for you manifest a Soul Slayer and such an interesting one as well. I didn't even sense it until you drew."

"That makes sense actually, it defeats the purpose of a Shikomizue if you can tell there's a deadly weapon inside. But anyway, my Soul Slayer's spirit is the problem, she says that we are not shameful to look upon, we are God's creation and I agree with that."

"But you can't walk around Shihoin Town never mind the mansion like that…not even Yoruichi does that…" Tessai objected.

"Yes, yes, I know Tessai," I nodded, sheathing the sword again and sealing it into its staff form. "But my sword has a plan…" I held the staff perpendicular to the earth and closed my eyes. My sword actively guided my power, it felt very weird …I was doing it, yet not…and I suddenly felt my mane of hair swirling in an unseen wind, accompanied with a slight tingly sensation all over my skin. I opened my eyes and looked down, my hair had come alive, snaking itself all over my body before solidifying, yet I couldn't feel it on me…

At first I thought that I was wearing the popular conception of a ninja's clothes, it was all black, but it looked and felt like it was actually a bodysuit of the shiniest thick leather I had ever seen that conformed to every curve I had, but still left my back, arms, shoulders and feet bare. There were also two small catches on my back where I could now carry my Shikomizue with no problems.

Kisuke grinned, "Now that's not something you see every day."

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The four of us were soon flash stepping on a steady northward course through the forest with Yoruichi in the lead. After barely six minutes we had passed the furthest edge of my explorations and I was moving into the unknown. It was a heady, exciting feeling, something I imagined the great explorers such as Magellan must have felt like. It was another five minutes before we crossed what was the northern border of the great forest that had been my home thus far in Soul Society. The territory here was hillier with even a couple of towering mountains speckled across the suddenly open landscape.

Yoruichi motioned upwards to me and our flash steps carried us upward into the air until we finally alighted on top of a flat top mountain. All of us were breathing a bit heavier as I looked down to where she pointed.

"Welcome to Shihoin Town."

I gasped, "Beautiful."

In the centre, a raised plateau easily with a couple of hectares of space on it, beautiful trees some of which were covered in colorful blossoms adorned it, with numerous multi story buildings in old Japanese style that rose out of the greenery. Only one steep flight of steps allowed access to the plateau, which itself was further surrounded by high buttressed walls with a gate facing south that allowed entry from ground level. Around this stretching for less than a kilometer in every direction were streets, shops, houses and larger buildings in a circular arrangement.

"Let's go."

It wasn't two minutes later that we were standing in front of a colorful gate leading into the Shihoin compound. Two robed guards stood at attention on either side of the massive doors, armed with tall steel pikes. They instantly crossed their weapons when we appeared out of flash step in front of them. Yoruichi made some sort of hand signal that was too fast to see and both men instantly stiffened and pulled their weapons out of the way before bowing deeply.

"Princess Yoruichi, welcome."

My eyebrows shot into the sky at hearing that title.

"We wish you to remember our new friend," Yoruichi gestured to me. "Her name is Melanie and she has provisional entrance to the grounds with escort."

"Understood Princess," both guards chorused. The large doors creaked open heavily allowing me to glimpse their impressive thickness and that they were interlaced and reinforced with metal. It would take a tank or heavy explosives to breach, a formidable defense in an afterlife where the technology level was the Earth equivalent of seventeenth century at best.

We entered and began to climb the steps, I sped up slightly to catch up with Yoruichi, "You're the freaking Princess?"

"We are," she sighed in a manner that showed she had not looked forward to day when I would find out. She also spoke in the old Royal tradition where it was assumed that a member of the nobility spoke not only for themselves but for all those ancestors who had come before them.

"Princess Yoruichi," It had a nice ring to it, "never had a friend with that title before."

A small relieved smile graced her features, "We're sorry for speaking like this, but there are many ears and eyes watching that is not plainly seen."

I took that in and tried to sense for spiritual pressure around me. Initially there was nothing, besides the four of us, but then I caught a flicker, the equivalent of tiny spark dashing past us with an amazing speed that made me envious. So fast and silent was it that there wasn't even a hint of its passing.

'Now that is impressive,' my sword commented. 'I wouldn't be surprised if they had wanted you to notice that one.'

"Guards?"

"In a way," Yoruichi nodded.

We climbed the final step and emerged onto the grounds proper. I considered my forest home to be a beautiful natural place where I could spend the afterlife, but this was like a little slice of more orderly man-made heaven, somewhere I would imagine anyone raised in the concrete jungles of Tokyo would consider heaven. Peach blossom trees, lotus flowers, beautiful gardens surrounding koi ponds with dark wooden bridges over them, was a vision that seared into my eyes and memory. I wished I had a camera.

"Kisuke, would you please show Melanie to her rooms, we must go speak to our Uncle."

"Yes, Princess."

She walked off towards one of the taller tower buildings, giving a graceful wave of her hand.

"This way, Mel," Kisuke gestured towards the west end of the compound. We arrived at a single floor rectangular building, which had a large courtyard open to the sky within. As we passed the various shoji paper lined walls, on the interior of the building he gestured to the eastern end. "These are my rooms, Tessai lives in the north section, and your rooms…"

"West end?"

He nodded, sliding open the door and revealing the minimalist interior of my new abode. A single futon mattress with one pillow, a very low table which I winced at seeing (you can only sit in front of it in the seiza position, something that was murder on western knees), and another slightly higher table meant to write on. The walls were decorated with calligraphy scrolls written in kanji characters that I somehow could read with no problems. I knew my eyes were seeing a 'foreign' language but the meaning was just somehow being zoomed into my brain. Perhaps there was some truth to the biblical concept of a 'high' language that all understood and spoke in heaven. The shoji walls on the other side of the room would also give a spectacular view if opened. I had no shoes but my dusty bare feet would ruin the pristinely polished floors, so I didn't dare walk in.

Kisuke spotted my problem, "Aaaa, there is a water source in the courtyard, and I'll show you the baths later."

"Perhaps we can find you some shoes," Tessai stated. "If you're going to meet the current Head of the Shihoin family in the manor, you'll track all sorts of dirt in with your feet."

"I should be able to solve this problem," I mused thoughtfully before remembering how my sword had manipulated my power, and focusing it on my feet. A moment later I regarded my feet encased in leather tabi shoes.

"Be careful, Mel-chan, Prince Nobuo Shihoin will mistake you for one of his soldiers," Kisuke laughed.

"Oh?"

"You'll find out eventually if you stay here longer, but the Head of the Shihoin family traditionally inherits the command of Soul Society's Special Forces," Tessai informed her. "Their uniform is almost like your magical clothes, only less form fitting and covers more skin."

"Well, I could always change it." 'Sword?'

A few moments later the bodysuit and tabi shoes were a pure white.

Tessai frowned, "Better, but can't you change it into a kimono?"

I shook my head, "no, nothing that truly hides my form."

We were interrupted at that point by a person appearing out of flash step right in front of us and immediately bowing. It was a short rather beautiful woman who looked to be in that golden mean period of her thirties, but since this was the afterlife, she could very well have been centuries in age. She was dressed in a white floral patterned kimono with wooden clog sandals for shoes. I inwardly winced at the thought of having to flash step or even walk with such things on my feet.

Kisuke introduced the new arrival, "Melanie, this is Airi, she takes care of us and sees to any needs or problems we have, which now also includes you."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mistress," Airi bowed again.

"The pleasure is mine," I returned the bow and she blushed for some odd reason at the action.

"You'll have to forgive Mel-chan, Airi," Tessai laughed. "She's not versed in the social norms of Soul Society yet."

"You matched her bow," Kisuke explained to me at my confused expression. "Airi is a household servant and you are a guest of the Princess, your bow to her must be shallower."

"Oh, perhaps if you have the time then you can teach me, Airi." I had a feeling I'd need it for the future.

"I would be honored, Mistress. But my immediate purpose is to bring a message from the Prince. He wishes to meet you in the afternoon."

I felt my stomach churn a bit in nervousness.

Kisuke smiled encouragingly, "Relax Mel-chan, it's just a quick meeting, he just wants to get a measure of you, he's a very busy man as you can imagine."

"I will escort you there when the time comes, Mistress."

"Thank you, Airi."

She bowed and vanished with a blur.

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The upper floors of largest building within the Shihoin compound had a distinct air of a museum. Polished hardwood floors that I could almost see my own reflection in, walls with only calligraphy for decoration, sliding shoji walls that ensured a room's visual privacy had elaborate artistic renderings on them of various dramatic scenes; battles, dragons, meetings and celebrations. I had been given a pair of white socks to wear so that I didn't mar the exquisitely polished floor, and I had to leave my Soul Slayer with Kisuke since there was no way anyone armed was allowed within this house bar the Prince and his personal bodyguards.

I was escorted by Airi though the maze-like corridors and wondered how on earth they knew which room was which. There were no numbers or letters or words near any of the rooms we passed. I supposed it was a defense against infiltration; someone breaking in who hadn't essentially been raised in the compound or trained here would quickly get lost and have no idea where anyone of import slept or lived.

All I knew we were somewhere on the fifth floor out of the eight this building consisted of, Airi had stopped and knelt in front of a shoji wall and prompted me to do the same next to her.

"Prince Shihoin, your humble servant Airi has completed her task," she declared to the room beyond.

"We thank you," a deep voice responded.

Airi took that as her cue and slid open the wall to reveal the room. It was the typical minimalist style but was slightly more cluttered, with piles of various scrolls and kneeling behind a low table was Nobuo Shihoin himself. He looked visibly as if he was in his fifties, which probably translated to the fact that he was a thousand years old. He was dark skinned like his niece but had penetrating sapphire blue eyes framed with long purple hair held together with an ornate silver hair piece. The Prince had a rather scrawny build judging by the fitting ninja style uniform of the Special Forces he was wearing, but my sense of the power he radiated just by being at rest left me rather intimidated.

Airi bowed deeply to the Prince before easily standing and walking off gracefully.

"Melanie Harrold," he said with a crisp neutral tone. I felt as if I was being x-rayed by those blue eyes, but I remembered Airi's instructions. I bowed once with my head almost touching the floor, hands braced flat in front of me.

"Prince Shihoin, I am honored by your house's generosity."

He barely inclined his head in acknowledgement of my thanks. "We have learned of your feat yesterday to prevent Shihoin trade goods from falling into the hands of criminals. Why did you do this?"

I was surprised twofold, that word had reaching him so quickly and that he had to ask at all. It took me a while to get my thoughts in order. "I came from a country in the living world where crime was something that touched everyone. There I had little to no power to do anything about it beyond the limits of self-defense. Here in Rukongai that is very different. I had the power and skill to stop it, and chose to do it."

"What is a crime, Harrold-chan?" the Prince asked with a knowing air.

I frowned for a moment, "In the absence of any commonly accepted rule of law that depends on the individual, Prince Shihoin."

"Did you happen to get a close look at the blades those highwaymen were using?"

"Uh, no…Prince." I could feel my cheeks heating up.

"They were rather good blades for common criminal scum. Completely unmarked by any blacksmith."

I wasn't sure what the Prince was trying to do, but I clearly had no choice but to play along. Unmarked katanas? Could that have the same significance as a gun with no serial numbers or identifying marks? It meant that the weapons were purposefully meant to be untraceable in any way, which was clearly suspicious. I also knew that proper katanas were practically works of art and it took months for a single blacksmith to make one. There was no way that any smith would leave it unmarked, unless he or she wanted to remain anonymous.

"They weren't just criminals then."

"Oh they probably were, but they were given untraceable weapons, a purpose and were probably promised a percentage of the loot."

"They were specifically targeting Shihoin Clan trade goods?"

"Well done, Harrold-chan," the Prince smiled briefly. "This wasn't a crime in the sense of one person or a group simply stealing for profit. It was a supply raid with a larger goal, one of many in the recent months targeting Shihoin Clan production."

"Why? Is someone trying to…"

The Prince simply smiled again, and rang a small bell that was on his table. "Thank you, Harrold-chan. Enjoy your stay."

Airi blurred into existence next to me and bowed to the Prince. My brain was whirling in confusion on the question of why he had told me all this, besides the fact that I had saved the caravan shipment, but I managed to bow as well, before Airi slid the shoji wall closed and escorted me back to my quarters.

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A/N: Inspiration for Mel's magical outfit comes from Bayonetta. I've got her future Shikai (initial release) and Bankai (final release) powers worked out, but don't expect to see them in this first story arc, since Bankai alone takes 10 years of dedicated training after attaining Shikai (this can easily take decades depending on the Shinigami and his circumstances/battle experience/skill). I'm still of two minds regarding adding Japanese honorifics and other terms, and I'm still experimenting with them so excuse me if I make any mistakes in that dept.