"If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow."
- Chinese Proverb.
"Wait for meeeeeee!"
Yemon threw a side glance at Yachiru as she once again took off after Dogmeat. The mutt yelped once, and Yemon couldn't tell whether he had done so in distress or enjoyment. Probably a bit of both, in the last two days those two had done more miles than most of the wrecked-up cars they had come across during their lifetimes.
"Why are you coming with us?" Yemon had asked Kenpachi back then.
"Well..." He had started to answer with a grin, but Yachiru's giggling as she chased after Dogmeat had been all the answer he had needed. "That's all really."
Yemon had taken a look at Tatsuki and given up. He was getting no support there, and there was the small fact that there was nothing he could really do about it.
Where does a 500-pound gorilla sleep? Anywhere he wants!
A curious saying; he had only seen pictures of gorillas, but Kenpachi probably qualified as a 500 ton one, going by "whatever-the-hell-he-wantsness".
At least he still had some cookies left.
He looked at Tatsuki again. She was walking a few steps behind them, staring at the ground, and not saying a word. This time, it hadn't even been an argument. She had been out for several hours when Yachiru had knocked her out, and had freaked out upon waking up and seeing Yachiru and Kenpachi casually sleeping by the dying fire.
It had taken Yemon quite a while to calm her down, although neither Shinigami had looked particularly worried about the homemade railway rifle aimed at them. While the argument that had ensued had not been as heated as the one during their borderline fight-training, the end had been a lot more abrupt than Yemon had expected.
"Yes, we could have run away, or at least you could, why didn't you?" Yemon had asked in the heat of the moment.
"What the hell? I should have just left you then?" Tatsuki had replied, just as hotly. "I was trying to help you! But I couldn't do a thing against that... that..." She had been pointing at Yachiru, who hadn't moved a muscle.
"Yes, well, it's harder to help someone than to run away, isn't it?"
Words are a curious thing, once they are out, no amount of wishing in the world is ever able to get them back. Yemon had regretted that reply as soon as it had escaped his mouth, and Tatsuki's response had made it even worse. She had given him the strangest look he had ever seen on someone, and just like that, she had dropped the argument and hadn't said another word.
That had been two days ago. And still all Yemon had managed to coach out of her were a few loose words, and a mumbled "shut up" whenever he tried to bring it up and apologize.
She wasn't even angry. He had seen her brooding with anger, and that wasn't it. She was plodding along behind them, gaze downcast, railway rifle over her shoulder, and not saying a word.
Yemon shook his head and caught a glimpse of Kenpachi as he turned away from Tatsuki. He was walking along without a care in the world, with his sheathed sword resting on his shoulder and a wide, measured step.
He was built like a proverbial brickhouse, but the fact that he walked along with his ragged shirt open didn't make it look like he was flaunting it. He had several scars, but the ones that caught Yemon's attention the most were the patch-like burnt scar over his right eye, and one on his chest that, in Yemon's estimation, was located right over his Soul Sleep.
Can't be, though, he'd have lost his spiritual power a long time ago if it was. Still, I wonder...
His musings were interrupted by the familiar laughter of Yachiru and the barking of Dogmeat, which were approaching at incredible speed. Yemon sighed and turned to the racket, getting ready to step between Dogmeat and Yachiru as soon as they appeared.
Again.
As soon as he did, Yachiru came to a skidding halt, while Dogmeat hid between Yemon's legs. "Okay, okay, give the poor mutt a break."
"Bu-uuuuut!" She complained, making a fake pout.
"You can play later," he replied, shielding his eyes with his right hand as he looked around, "you're going give poor Dogmeat a heatstroke at this rate. Let's take a break, shall we?"
"Okaaaay Kurochi." Yachiru replied.
He had asked about the nickname she had given him, but she had only laughed, called him weird, and otherwise completely ignored him.
Black chi? I don't get it.
A few minutes later they had set camp under a large rocky outcropping, and Yemon couldn't be more grateful for the cool shade to spend the hot part of the day under.
"Tatsuki, can I have the water please?"
She didn't answer, merely unslung the canteen from where she was sitting, but as she winced in pain, Yemon reached out and grabbed it.
"Woah, wait, are you still in pain?"
"I'm fine," she muttered.
Yemon put the canteen down and knelt behind her. "Let me take a look at your back."
"It's fine, leave me alone."
"Tat-" He clamped up and took a deep breath, speaking afterwards in a low, tired voice. "Just let me take a look."
After a few moments, Tatsuki unzipped the top of her patched-up jumpsuit and let Yemon uncover her back. He felt her shudder every time he pressed as he carefully and methodically examined the wound. The skin that had been grafted back looked dark red, with a pink-purplish contour all around, and there were several dark, dried-up spots where he had had to remove some of the dead skin that didn't make it in. It didn't look worse than other days, though he still gave it a thorough examination to look for troublesome spots.
Mom would know better than me. Well, it's not the easiest thing to take care of while on the road I guess. It's going to leave one ugly scar... She's got a few already.
"It's not looking too bad, does it hurt more than before?"
"It's fine," she muttered again.
"Okay then."
Not ten seconds after sitting down and letting Dogmeat drink as he poured water onto the palm of his hand, Tatsuki sat behind him and did the exact same thing, pulling his Shihakushō down and looking at his back.
"Hey, what...?" Yemon winced slightly as Tatsuki put her hand on his wound, but to his surprise she didn't seem to do much exploration, she only followed the contour of the deathclaw's mark with her fingers. "What's wrong?"
"No... Nothing," she answered, hesitating, "it looks fine."
"Yeah, well, it's just four cuts, those are a lot easier to heal with some stitches..." Yemon babbled on, but Tatsuki didn't say anything, she seemed to be mesmerized by the wound. "Tatsuki?"
"Yemon..."
Silence, only her hand on his back.
"Yes?"
"You never told me how you got this wound."
"Huh, I said it was a deathclaw, remember?"
"But why were you fighting a deathclaw?"
"What's gotten into you?" Yemon dodged, looking over his shoulder at Tatsuki.
"Can't you tell me?" Tatsuki insisted.
Yemon thought about it while feeding Dogmeat some more water, looking at the grey mutt licking his hand as he drank. Finally, with a sigh, he took a sip of water himself and closed the canteen. He didn't consider himself much of a storyteller, so he tried to keep the explanation simple. Tatsuki listened without a word, still with her hand on Yemon's back.
"So that's what happened," Yemon concluded after his explanation, "got Tandi back home, and that was that. You know the rest."
Tatsuki pulled Yemon's Shihakushō up and carefully closed it, passing her hands over his back as she did. "You took a very big risk Yemon."
"Yeah, well, I had to."
"Because of me?"
Yemon took a moment to think before answering. "And the Vault too. I had to-"
"You were right," Tatsuki interrupted.
"Huh? What?"
"You were right. It's harder... It's harder to protect someone..."
"Oh jeez, look, I didn't mean to-"
"No," she interrupted again, "that's what it is. Truth is the truth."
"Tatsuki..."
"It's okay," she tapped Yemon's back gently and stood up, "just have a rest."
"Why..."
Yemon turned to look at Tatsuki, but she was already walking away. She walked past the napping Kenpachi, and knelt down next to Yachiru, who was laying down on the ground and watching clouds pass while kicking with her feet, obviously bored. He couldn't make what the discussion they were having was about, but Yachiru looked like she wouldn't have any of it, until Tatsuki said something while gesturing towards him. Yachiru sat up, looked at him, and after a few moments, nodded.
"Huh. I wonder what they're talking about."
His wonderment didn't have to wait long. They both stood up, walked some distance away into the open, and stood facing each other. When Tatsuki raised her guard, Yemon finally understood.
"Well, spray me with Raid and call me a radroach, that's not a bad- Woah!"
Less than a second after Tatsuki had raised her guard, Yachiru had jumped at her with an insanely fast shunpo and knocked her down with a sweep Tatsuki didn't even see coming. Yemon jumped to his feet without even thinking, but was immediately stopped by Kenpachi's.
"Sit down kid."
It took Yemon a few moments to realize it was Kenpachi's voice. "Weren't you asleep?"
"Yeah." Kenpachi replied without opening his eyes. "Just sit down and let them do their thing, didn't we stop because of you?"
"Uh... But..."
Kenpachi was obviously done talking, because he didn't add another word to interrupt the bumbling Yemon. Tatsuki was already back at it with Yachiru, and as they clashed again, Yemon shook his head and sat down again, laying with his back to the rocky outcrop and reaching out to pat Dogmeat. In the distance, Yachiru's powerful reiatsu was drowning Tatsuki's more subtle one, making it very difficult for him to follow what was happening.
"You know where this is going to end, don't you?" Yemon said, prompting a whine from Dogmeat as an answer.
Two hours later they had resumed their march towards the Hub, after a good hour of training and another hour of Tatsuki recovering while Yemon went over her scuffs and bruises.
And yet, despite that, she seemed strangely satisfied.
"Feeling better?" Yemon asked as they plodded along.
Tatsuki looked at Yemon and grinned. "Oh yeah, she's a lot better than you, you know... Kurochi."
"You too?" He said, shaking his head and smiling.
"It could be worse you know."
"Yeah, I know, she could call me muppet too."
"No, I mean, she calls me Blueberry..." Her voice trailed off before changing subjects. "Wait, was that bothering you?"
Yemon looked at Tatsuki and shrugged. "A little, but it's all water under the vault now."
"Huh... I suppose... What the hell is that?"
As they talked, they had made their way to the edge of a deep, long gorge cutting their advance completely. Kenpachi was standing at the edge, looking ahead with complete calm, while Yachiru was dragging dogmeat behind her Dogmeat towards it, and the mutt was biting the ankle of her Shihakushō and whining as he tried to hold her back.
Once she got to the edge of the cliff, she opened her mouth widely in a big smile. "Wooooow, it's so huge! Look Dogmeat!"
Giving up, Dogmeat let go of her and took off before Yachiru could grab him, running behind Yemon and chomping at his leg too to stop him from getting anywhere near the cliff.
"What is it boy?" Yemon asked, stopping his walk and freeing his leg by scratching the dog behind the ears. "Afraid of heights?"
Dogmeat whined in response, lowering his ears and licking Yemon's hand.
Tatsuki made a small grimace. "Yemon, don't you think there's something weird about this dog?"
"What do you mean?"
Yemon looked at her, and so did Dogmeat, and for a moment Tatsuki thought they had the same inquisitive look on their respective faces. "Look at him! When was the last time you saw a dog that smart? He looks like he can understand what we say!"
Yemon and Dogmeat looked at each other for a few moments, in such perfect sync that Tatsuki felt a chill run up her spine, until Yemon shrugged, prompting Dogmeat to wag his tail.
"More importantly, where the hell are we?" Yemon started poking the Pip-boy, and after a few seconds his eyes opened wide in surprise. "What the hell?"
"What?" Tatsuki asked, surprised.
"What what? Take a look!"
He extended his arm to offer a view of the Pip-boy to Tatsuki, and when she looked at it, she couldn't make heads nor tails of what she saw.
"What am I looking at?"
"A map of our route."
"It's just one big squiggle..." She said, and suddenly understanding dawned on her. "Oh."
Yachiru rushed to their side and appeared in a blur of shunpo."Hey, hey! Whatcha looking at?"
"Yachiru, what the hell?" Yemon said, showing her the Pip-boy. "I thought you said you knew the way to the Hub!"
"Of course I do!" She replied, smiling, and pointed at a random direction. "It's that way!"
"That's North." Yemon replied in a flat voice.
"So, we're lost?" Tatsuki asked, looking at Kenpachi make his way back to the rest of the group.
"Well, not exactly. If the Hub really is somewhere around here..." Yemon pointed at a marker on the Pip-boy's map, "… then we just have to make our way there. But seriously Yachiru, we've wasted three days and-"
"Let's go!" She interrupted him, chasing after the yelping Dogmeat in the wrong direction.
"Hey, Yachiru! That's not the way!" Yemon shouted, to no avail as the pink-haired Shinigami ignored him completely.
It had been ten days after finding the gorge, and more than two weeks in total, when they finally made it to the Hub, for a trip that should have taken five days at worst and during which Yemon's patience had been put thoroughly to the test. The deadline Karin had given him was an estimate at best, and maybe even an optimistic one, and he didn't want to think what would happen if he missed it and they were forced to open the vault.
But no matter how much he didn't want to think about it, it was all he could think of. He'd have to get rid of those two, but there was no way for him to do it. Kenpachi ignored him, Yachiru only wanted to play with Dogmeat, and they both had terrible sense of direction.
One thing was for sure though. Travelling with those two made every trip three times longer than it should, but damn if it wasn't the safest way to travel the Wasteland.
Who on earth would get close to that maniac? Everything we've come across has just run away!
Tatsuki looked at Yemon work his brain and decided to interrupt his train of thought. For her it had been a lot of intense training, and beaten up as she was, she was feeling like she hadn't in a long time. But Yemon had been rather on edge. "What's wrong this time Yemon? Stop working yourself into knots."
"Two weeks to find this stupid place."
"Yes, I know." She sighed, and didn't add what she was thinking. You've been yammering about it all week. "We don't have to travel with them, you know."
"Yes, it's my fault, isn't it? I should-"
"Yemon!" Tatsuki interrupted him. "We're here already, okay? Just give it a rest for now."
As they approached the settlement, Yemon realized it was a lot bigger than any he had seen so far, looking just as run-down as everything else, but teeming with people all over. Before they got anywhere near, a group of what appeared to be Shinigami had gathered and was watching their approach.
"Hmmm, how interesting," Kenpachi muttered, grinning intensely.
Yemon looked at him and spoke in an irritated voice. "Are you going to pick up a fight even before we get there?"
"That'll be up to them," Kenpachi replied, intensifying his grin.
"Oh for f-" He stopped talking when he noticed Yachiru and Dogmeat rushing towards the group. "Dogmeat! Come here!"
The dog obeyed, and for a moment Yachiru seemed unsure as to whether to chase him back or not. In the meantime, the grey mutt gave a friendly whine to Yemon, who ignored him as he continued his walk towards the Hub.
"There, there boy," Tatsuki consoled him, giving him a quick scratch on his back, "you're annoying the scary man," she concluded with a grin.
Yemon noticed that the group and Kenpachi were eyeing each other without disguising their intentions one bit. Kenpachi looked ready to start a fight as soon as a suitable excuse and appropriate opposition were found, and the other Shinigami were likely crapping their pants at the strength of the reiatsu emanating from the former Captain. Kenpachi stopped just beyond striking distance,
"This a welcome party?" Said Kenpachi.
A tall, black-haired Shinigami with a square jaw and a rough armband around his left shoulder took a step forward, thus identifying himself as the leader of the group. "That depends, what business do you have in the Hub?"
"We're not here to cause any trouble.." Yemon replied, but Kenpachi interrupted.
"Speak for yourself." Said he.
"Why yes, I am speaking for myself Kenpachi." Yemon retorted. "Why-"
"Kenpachi?" Another, older Shinigami interrupted. "My word, Zaraki Kenpachi!"
All eyes turned to the voice, a scraggy looking Shinigami with grey hair and a worn-down face. The look of surprise would have been almost comical in different circumstances.
"You know this lot Taizo?"
"Uh, sir, that's Zaraki Kenpachi, captain of the 11th Division."
The words had an immediate effect on most of the younger Shinigami, causing quite a stir as they reached for their weapons as if they were expecting to be attacked in that very second, but the older Shinigami merely stepped in front and made a small bow to Kenpachi.
"Don't worry about the kids, sir, they haven't seen much of the 11th other than raiders. Welcome to the Hub. What brings you to these parts?"
"Hey, Taizo, what-"
A stony gaze from the older Shinigami quickly silenced the armbanded leader, much to Kenpachi's obvious amusement. "Just passing by," he said, still grinning.
"And looking for a fight perhaps?"
"If there is one..." His grin intensified.
"I'm afraid you won't find much worth your time in here, sir. Bunch of wusses from the 8th is all we've got."
There were some murmurs of dissent, but a quick measuring glance from Kenpachi easily silenced them all.
"Tsch, what a shame," said Kenpachi, losing his grin. "Anything worth seeing in this place then?"
"Not sure what you're looking for, sir. We have a pretty good library from the old days, but it's probably not your thing. Most of the trade caravans have an office here, so if it's trade you want, we have plenty of it, and the Maltese Falcon is good for booze and music, and has a casino too."
"Casino?" Tatsuki perked up.
A spit second later, Yemon had caught her hand as it went into the proverbial cookie jar, or rather, his bag of caps.
"Hey, I won those caps!" Tatsuki protested.
"You're gonna get us in trouble again!" Yemon retorted.
"What? You still pissed about that? They were the ones who were cheating!"
"Excuse me!" The old man interrupted, and Yemon and Tatsuki turned to him in perfect unison. "There will be no trouble of any kind in this town. If you have a problem, we'll be the ones to solve it, we're the law here, is that clear?"
He gave Kenpachi a sideglance as he said that, but without giving a chance for the others to reply, he turned around and led the Shinigami back into town, leaving Tatsuki and Yemon somewhat confused, while Kenpachi merely shrugged and started to walk off, with Yachiru perched on his shoulder, while Dogmeat followed them, but not without first looking back at Yemon and giving a small whimper, wagging his tail.
Even though the young woman was just shy of six feet in height, she still looked like a small accessory on Kenpachi's shoulder. The whole scene was more than a bit strange, or so Yemon thought.
Tatsuki gave a tentative tug at the bag. "Come on Yemon, we're finally here, okay? Let's just look at what they have, maybe that library he mentioned will have something."
I sure hope so," he sighed, and pulled at the bag of caps himself, "but you're not spending all the caps in the casino."
"Wasn't my intention," she grinned, letting go of it.
Yemon had gotten used to the shabby constructions that littered the wasteland, and in that respect the Hub didn't disappoint. The run-down dwellings had been laid down along what appeared to be an old piece of highway, a large crossing of black tarmac that served as the hub for the trade caravans that launched from the site. A number of people were milling about loading goods and crates on broken vehicles and brahmin, and the latter seemed to be more zealously guarded than the former.
Truth to be told, Yemon couldn't tell the difference between random trash and the goods that were going to be traded. They made their way to the center of town under the intense scrutiny of pretty much everyone they came across, and that's when they spotted the sign on one of the few concrete buildings that pointed at the Maltese Falcon.
"Here we are," Yemon said, in a whoop-dee-doo tone.
"Why don't you come with me?" Tatsuki asked as she dug inside the caps bag. "Let me buy you a drink or two," she grinned.
"The last thing I need is-"
"Psst!" Someone interrupted them.
Yemon and Tatsuki turned to see a shifty looking character, rather dirty even for wasteland standards, and looking ragged and run-down.
Neither Tatsuki nor Yemon said a word, so he continued talking. "You new to town? Yes?" No answer, but he didn't look like he needed one. "Well, guess you're in luck, if you're looking for something good, your old friend Lemmy knows where to get it. Jet, Med-X, d-"
He stopped talking as soon as the edge of a blade landed right on his neck, biting into his skin as Yemon pressed it menacingly.
"You little piece of shit, you get near her again and I'll-"
Tatsuki reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling the blade away from Lemmy's neck. He had unsheathed so fast she hadn't even seen him do it. "Yemon! Stop it!"
As soon as she had pulled the blade away, Lemmy took a step back and fell on his butt, putting a hand on his neck and looking at Yemon with a mix of surprise and anger.
"What the hell ya crazy! Whatya think you're doing!"
There was a noticeable crashing sensation as Yemon's reiatsu spiked, sending blue flares shooting out of his Quincy symbol. Lemmy squeaked and, scrambling on all fours to stand up and run, legged it down the street while yelling: "I have friends! You'll regret this!"
Even after Lemmy had disappeared, Yemon didn't seem to relax one bit, until Tatsuki practically forced him to let go of his knife.
"What the hell was that all about?" She asked, confused.
Yemon gave her a look before answering. "You really need to ask?"
"Oh come on, give me a break Yemon," she replied, shaking her head. "You still think you don't need to come with me and relax?"
Without saying a word, Yemon reached for the caps bag and, putting his hand inside, pulled out a hand full of them. He barely gave Tatsuki enough time to grab them before he disappeared. "I'll see you later," he had said before rushing away with Hyrenkyaku.
Tatsuki sighed. "Yemon, you really are one stubborn... Wait, where is Dogmeat?" She looked around, but couldn't spot the mutt, or the newest additions to their travelling party. "Stupid mutt, now I look like I'm crazy talking to myself."
She passed a hand over her hair, and sighed. She still tried to touch those hairclips every time she worried about something. She looked at her handful of caps, smiled and, putting her railway rifle over her shoulder, strolled into the Maltese Falcon with a confident step.
Having some time to himself, Yemon at first stewed his irritation as he visited the different caravan companies, but after a while he instead started to transfer his irritation to himself, and how stupidly he was acting.
I've got to apologize to Tatsuki later. But seriously, she hears about a casino and she's off like-
"What are you doing?"
"Wah!" Yemon practically jumped out of his waraji when his thoughts were so suddenly interrupted. Next to him, and giggling with obvious delight at her sneakiness, was Yachiru. "Bloody hell, don't sneak up on me like that!"
"Tee-hee, you're so funny!"
"Phew. Seriously."
"Whatcha doing?" She tried again.
"Uh, I was just visiting the traders here..." Yemon answered evasively.
"Ooooh, I wanna go shopping too! Can I? Can I?"
"Uh... I suppose, why do you need my-" Even before Yemon had finished, Yachiru disappeared in front of his eyes in a blur of shunpo. "- permission?" He tapped his obi and realized his bag of caps was gone.
Again.
"Oh bloody hell, not again." He looked around and, not seeing the pink-haired crazy, he closed his eyes and tried to sense her reiatsu.
Nothing. He spotted Tatsuki, who appeared to be rather excited (don't get into trouble yet), Kenpachi, who was just sitting somewhere in the middle of town and drowning almost every other reiatsu he could feel, and for the life of him he couldn't find Yachiru.
"She's got massive reiatsu, how the hell can she hide it so well?" He shook his head and looked back. "Well, at least I'm done with the caravans. Next there's that shop, what was it, Jake's Weapons. Not that I can buy anything though, where the hell is she?"
As he walked to the east part of town, he tried to keep an eye out for Yachiru, but didn't quite find her anywhere. That part of the Hub was looking specially dirty and run-down, and he had only seen one of the Shinigami patrolling around. Not just dirty, but scrawny, dirty people he could guess were probably drug addicts.
I guess they Shinigami would rather keep an eye on the caravans than clear this place out.
"There, Vance, that's him!"
Yemon recognized the voice. He turned around and saw Lemmy pointing at him, and next to him three tuggish-looking men. One of them, Vance he guessed, had a pistol holstered at his waist, and the other two were wearing spiked metal armor and wielding large mallets with worrying ease.
"You again?" Yemon asked, with more sharpness in his voice than prudence dictated. "What do you want?"
"What do I want? What? Look at this!" He ointed at his neck, where a hairline of dark, dried-up blood could almost be seen under all the grime. "You made your last mistake pal! We-"
"Shut up Lemmy!" Vance shouted, clamming him up immediately. He turned to Yemon, grinning wickedly. "Not that I give a shit about this loser," he added, pointing at Lemmy with his thumb but not taking his eyes off Yemon, "but seems to me you're bad for business. Can't have you just going around messing our pushers, can we?"
Yemon shot a covert glance around. It didn't seem to him that they needed to do much pushing to sell their wares. "You sure you want to start some crap here?" He pointed over his shoulder in the general direction of the center of town. "Last I heard the Shinigami won't be too happy if you do."
Vance grinned, showing his dirty and rather less than perfect collection of teeth. "This is our town kid, Shinigami come looking for somethin', nobody sees nothing."
Yemon furrowed his brow as Vance made a gesture with his head, prompting the two thugs to start approaching him. For a moment he relished the prospect of giving some scumbags a hell of a beatdown, but quickly realized what he was thinking and put the brakes on it. "You really don't want to do this, Vance."
"Aren't we confident," he said, not without irony in his voice, and as his thugs looked back at him, he made a gesture with his head towards Yemon.
Without hesitation, Yemon jumped forward with Hyrenkyaku and, unsheathing as he did, made s vertical swipe at Vance. To his infinite surprise, Vance dodged easily, and as he did, he drew his gun and had it aimed at Yemon even before he landed. He covered awkwardly as he jumped back with Hyrenkyaku, hoping the wide blade would protect him from errand bullets, and as Vance unloaded, he made jump after jump until he crashed through a flimsy and almost ruined roof.
Yemon coughed and spluttered as he dug himself out of the pile of rubble he had just created. A few moments later a shrill voice pierced the air.
"Shinigami! Help! Watch out!"
At the same time, he became aware of the shouts of surprise around him, and moments later, the sounds of guns being primed and cocked. In the hyper-awareness of battle, for a second, he saw several people in the room training guns towards him, and a shinigami locked in a small cell in the back of the room.
Well, shit!
Like a flash, Yemon disappeared as soon as bullets started flying and, letting go of his oversized knife, he brought out his Quincy bow and fired a volley of arrows almost without thinking, or even aiming. The arrows crashed through the ceiling, making a massive mess out of the building. A few steps later he appeared next to his dropped knife, and as he did, so did Vance.
For a moment their eyes locked onto each other, and Yemon had the distinct impression that Vance was enjoying the fight much more than he was. Trying for a surprise move, Yemon jumped backwards with Hyrenkyaku while grabbing the end of the loose cord around the tang of his knife, and the resulting wild slash almost caught his opponent by surprise. The very tip of the knife nicked Vance as Yemon rushed back, but he was already thinking of the opponents behind him. He landed ducking under the slow, heavy swing from one of Vance's thugs and as he gripped his knife again, he made a spinning slash that severed the thug in half, cutting under the metallic armor with an ugly, wet crunching sound and sending blood flying all over as he did. The spray of blood splashed over Yemon's face, but he didn't even take the time to wipe it off, pulling away from a second attack from the other thug as he too tried to maul him.
It turned out to be a lucky move, when moments later a hail of bullets started trailing his moves, downing his opponent and forcing him to keep running with Hyrenkyaku. Even when moving as fast as he could, it seemed to him that the bullets were landing dangerously close. He dove behind one of the ruined concrete walls, and hadn't finished propping himself against it when he felt a sudden reiatsu overhead. He reacted more by instinct than conscious thought, and barely managed to block Vance's vicious slash.
"You're not bad kid," he said, grinning.
Yemon didn't have time to even think of an answer. Vance suddenly Stopped pressing his blade against Yemon's and, as the latter lost his balance, he kicked him on the stomach, sending him flying back and crashing through the wall. Even as he did, he had to pull back and away from Yemon to dodge a glowing blue Quincy arrow the vault dweller had managed to fire his way.
He skid to a stop as he landed, clutching his stomach and trying to recover his breath. With a clang, his knife landed about a meter away from him.
Bloody hell that fucking hurt!
He felt some movement behind him, saw Vance rushing out from behind the rubble he had just been thrown through, and for a moment hesitated, him together with his legs, which refused to move without the aid of the wind that had been knocked out of his lungs.
Shit, get up you moron! Up!
Everything came to a grinding halt as a massive, crushing reiatsu fell across the battlefield. For a moment, Yemon felt as if he had been stabbed through the chest, and it took him several heartbeats to realize he had simply felt an extremely sharp murderous intent falling on him.
"What the hell," a familiar, deep voice woke him up from his reverie, "you can fight when you have to. That your Zanpakutō? What was that sissy bow you used last time?"
Oh shit! Yemon thought, gulping with difficulty. He cast a glance around and realized all the enemies he had been fighting were on the ground, feeling just as crushed by Kenpachi's reiatsu as he was. Well, I can move at least.
"Well?" Kenpachi insisted.
"Kenpachi... Are you nuts? Look, I'm a Quincy, that sissy bow is all I have... Ugh, can you stop with-"
"Stop them!"
The new familiar voice caught Yemon's attention, but he didn't take his eyes off Kenpachi until he had turned away, and by the by his massive reiatsu receded, as the town's Shinigami came and started restrainng all the combatants. The older Shinigami they had met when they first arrived was walking towards them, and looking none-too-happy to boot.
"Well that sure didn't take long!" He protested, looking at Kenpachi, who merely shrugged. The Shinigami looked around, paying special attention to the body of the thug Yemon had cut in half, and to the bloodied knife on the ground.
Not that the blood splattered over Yemon wasn't enough of a clue.
"Well kid, told ya no killing in this town."
"So what," Yemon retorted hotly, "am I supposed to let them kill me?"
"We'll clear that up at the station. You're coming with me."
At that moment, Yemon forgot everything, including the pain, and stood up like a shot, calling his Quincy bow in the blink of an eye.
"Like hell I am!" He barked.
"Ya making this a lot harder on yourself kid," Kenpachi said.
"What the hell, you're the last person... who..."
Yemon's words faltered as a sudden rain of purple cherry blossom petals started to fall around him, and the last thing he heard was the older Shinigami muttering "Hakufuku."
Bugger...
Author's Notes: The Hub is a huge nexus of quests and stuff in the original Fallout, including the Caravans, so it had to be here too. The caravans are very curious, you can get work with them that takes weeks of travel, but doesn't add to the overall time limit of the main quest. Very confusing.
Blackout1170: Slight spoiler? He serves the same purpose as the prisoner found in Fallout (adding a marker to the map), and when I tried to use him again... Yachiru got in the way :D