It was late in the evening and Akari was sitting on the roof of the Seireitei. She saw several soul reapers patrolling the grounds down below her. "What a nice night out." She sighed. Then her thoughts began to wander, thinking about the other day in the bath house. Kenpachi. That man was on her mind constantly ever since she spied on him in the men's section of the bath house. Despite his wild and fiery personality, Kenpachi was handsome. His well-toned muscles and abs, long hair, wet, as it clinged to his face, how tall he was standing in the water as it barely reached his waist.
"What is a lovely lady such as yourself doing out here alone?" Akari yelped in shock when she heard a man's voice spoke, snapping her out of her train of thoughts, startling her. Akari glanced over to her side and saw Squad 8 captain, Kyoraku. She saw Ukitake, who was sitting next to him as well. She didn't even sense them at all! Well, they are higher ranking captains after all.
"Just reflecting on my thoughts." Akari spoke. "Everything's changed since I've been gone."
"Then let's have a drink and enjoy the moment." Kyoraku smiled and pulled out a jug filled with sake filling some cups and handed one over to Ukitake. "Here you go."
"Thanks." Ukitake smiled taking it from him and drank. Then Kyoraku handed a cup to Akari.
"I'm not much of a drinker." Akari spoke but took it anyway.
"So you're old man Yamma's girl?" Kyoraku asked. "He never said anything about you."
"Well, dad doesn't like to talk about me much, considering a look a lot like my mother." Akari said, taking another drink. "When she died, he closed his heart." Kyoraku and Ukitake looked at each other and Ukitake spoke.
"What you said at the captains meeting, this shadow hallows, how dangerous are they? From Captain Soi Fon's report, several of her stealth force members were injured from encountering them."
"They can take the form of someone you trust the most in order to lure you into a false sense of security then drain your spirit energy or reitsu then you become one of them."
"That's definitely bad news." Kyoraku murmured, gravely.
"It's terrible!" Ukitake exclaimed.
Akari stayed silent, thinking to herself as she continued to drink. Maybe it was the sake, but she couldn't help but trust these two. She could tell them about her condition...
No.
They would probably freak out and attack her and she was not in a mood for a fight right now.
"Something on your mind?" Kyoraku asked Akari snapping out her thoughts. Akari shook her head and handed her cup back and stood up.
"I'm going to head back. It's getting late." She said and she hopped off the roof leaving the two men to themselves.
"Hey, Jushiro, doesn't it seem she was hiding something?" Kyoraku asked him.
"She did seem like she wanted to tell us something." Ukitake spoke.
Akari was walking in the Seireitei and stopped in front of an old wall to the castle. She looked around making sure the nobody was around and pressed a few bricks. The bricks slowly moved slinking downward to the ground revealing stairs. Akari stepped through, going down the steps and the wall slid back up behind her, hiding the secret entrance. As Akari reached the bottom of the stairs, the room was barely lit. She reached to the side of the wall and felt a small gem and turned it. The crystal turned a blue shade of color, lighting up the room.
"That's better." Akari sighed. There were a few childish drawings hanging on the wall, the ink faded over the years and the paper had turned yellow. "Nothing's changed." There were stuffed animals sitting on a small make shift bed that had sewn blankets on it. However, Akari noticed something different. There were a lot more stuffed animals than she recalled having and there were more drawings plastered on the walls.
"Huh?" Akari walked closer to get a better look. A candy wrapper crinkled underneath her foot and Akari lifted up, seeing it. There were many more scattered all over the floor as well. Akari sat down on the bed. "Did a child somehow discovered my secret hideout?"
Then Akari felt something squirming and a muffled sound underneath her.
"What the-!?" Akari quickly stood up and she saw a small lump in the middle of the bed. It crept upwards, pulling the blankets down, revealing pink hair.
"Yachiru!?" Akari sputtered and her eyes widen in shock.
"Hey, tomato head! You almost squashed me with your big butt!" Yachiru shouted then she blinked a little confused. "How did you find my secret room?"
"Your room? This was mine." Akari spoke. Yachiru stared at her.
"Oh! So you made those drawings!"
Akari nodded.
"So you have secret hideaways just like me!" Yachiru smiled. Akari blinked at her.
"No, just this one." Akari replied. "You have a lot?"
Yachiru nodded. "Yes! All over the court guard squads! Re-chan and Ukki gives me lots of sweets when I visit them! I know Bya-kun, doesn't like it though and tries to seal them up!" She pouted, puffing her cheeks. "And I worked hard on them too!"
"How about this, we can share this one whenever each one of us needs it." Akari told her. Yachiru beamed at her.
"Really? I can have it?"
"Yes, it's fine by me." Akari told her.
"By the way, while I was going through the drawings, I found this one." Yachiru told her and hopped down and she crawled underneath the bed and pulled it out. She climbed back up and waved it in front of Akari's face. "Did you make this one as well?"
"It was a woman with red hair, wearing, fancy, traditional, white robes. She appeared to be of nobility.
"Yes, I did." Akari spoke, softly. Yachiru noticed that she looked a little sad.
"Akari?" Yachiru said a little worried.
"Did this person mean a lot to you? Who was she?"
"This person was my mother. She was killed a long time ago." Akari told her. "It's just me now."
"That's not true! You have us now! Me, Kenny, Yun-Yun, Baldy and I'm sure the Shinigami women's association would like you as well! You have to join!"
"Shinigami women's association?" Akari questioned.
"I'm the president of it! It's to help soul reapers in the Seireitei make their life better!" Yachiru explained.
"Okay, I'm in." Akari smiled.
"Ya! Tomato head's in! I'm going to go tell the other members! Bye!" Yachiru cheered and she quickly raced off, leaving the room, and Akari sitting where she was surprised by the little girl's speed.