"You got this, Hisa!" Kohana cheered from the side of the path.
"Shut up!" Hisa snapped. They had searched for Hollows, but had found themselves being followed by a gang of brutes. Hisa wiped at the cut on her chin, smearing blood on the back of her hand. Her weapon steady, she leapt forward and slashed downward, catching the side of a brute's arm.
"Stupid little brat!" he shouted as he grasped his arm.
One brute swatted at Hisa with a club while another swung with a club. She jumped backwards, steadying herself before she lunged forward, slashing as she went. From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of pink soaring through the air. For a fraction of a second, she turned her head to see Kohana and her four small fighting fans, thin silk strands across the top. Hisa gritted her teeth, swinging her sword upward, slashing the chest of one brute, she spun, lunging. Her sword embedded in the stomach of the second man. Both dropped to the ground like downed buildings.
"Finish up, Kohana!" Hisa shouted to her companion. "We've got to keep moving."
Kohana flashed a wicked smile, then lunged, slicing with all four weapons. "Let's go," she said before the man had even dropped. Kohana closed her fans, placing them in her belt. "Just a little bit farther north, then if we head east we should be in the same area." The girls picked their footing around the men they'd defeated, walking under the morning's brilliant sun. "Not a hair out of place, is there, Hisa darling? Can't imagine running into a high ranking Shinigami looking like the inside of a trash bin."
Hisa suppressed the urge to roll her baby blues. "You couldn't look so hideous even if you tried."
Kohana beamed. "Oh, you really think so? I know your eyes are as sharp as they come," she said. "Maybe we could hang around District One for some time while I do some fishing."
"Absolutely disgusting," Hisa muttered as her eyes caught a glint of metal hanging from a tree. She left Kohana's side to investigate.
"Everything okay?"
Hisa nodded, catching a silver pendant in her hand, her gaze following the leather strand wrapped around a low branch. "Think this belongs to someone?" she whispered.
"Yeah," Kohana scoffed, making a grab for the necklace. "Us now."
Hisa jerked the jewelry from her friend's grasp. "No, we're not taking this."
"We're not?"
"No," Hisa continued. "This looks like it means quite a bit to someone."
"Could mean quite a bit of money for us, too," Kohana mocked quietly.
Hisa gently tugged the necklace from the branch, securing the jewelry around her neck for safe-keeping. "We'll return it to its owner. For now, let's keep moving forward."
Kohana continued her banter for quite a while, covering all topics, even those that Hisa would have preferred to leave alone. Hisa daydreamed about a paradise of impossibility. Stars in the day, a sun and moon that shone as one, grass that grazed her hands as she walked, air that smelled sweet with blossoms and gentle like dew. Her vision dissipated as a blood-curdling wail pierced the afternoon. Hisa broke out in a run, Kohana following closely behind.
The women came upon a shabby village, a small patrol of Shinigami already at the scene. Between the black robes, Hisa saw a middle-aged woman slumped on the ground, her hands desperately grasping at Eleventh Division 5th Seat Yumichika Ayasewaga.
"Please, calm down," Yumichika managed between cries. "Where did the creature go?"
The woman could barely manage to remain conscious, let alone begin to form a coherent statement. "My baby...my girl...taken!"
"Kohana," Hisa said, turning to her friend. "Stay with the woman, calm her down, get as much information as you can from her. I'll go find her girl."
"I'll go with you, Hisa," Kohana protested.
"No, I need you to stay here. Stay here," Hisa urged, running off into the trees.