New Beginnings: The Road To Recovery [Arianda/Fuurinji]

Boy howdy had Fuu been on a roller coaster of events over recent times, going from an overly cocky and independent Shinigami to contemplating her own existence and role within it to allying with a Demon and deciding to live with her. But most of all she'd found herself so comfortable within her embrace she'd fallen asleep for quite some time, due to a variety of factors that had presented themselves in this most unusual of circumstances. Probably what was most strange however was the length of her sleep, significantly longer than she'd slept in an such a long time she wouldn't truly be able to remember the last time she had slept this long.

However by the time she began to awaken, she'd almost all but forgotten what had happened at least for the moment. First stretching out her legs and arms and letting out a long, somewhat high pitched noise that most make when stretching muscles that hadn't moved in awhile before turning over to her other side and curling back up into a ball. She couldn't place why, but she felt a lot... lighter than normal. Her torso didn't feel anywhere near as constrained and there was an odd coldness to her feet that she hadn't felt in a very long time.

As her hands explored just a bit she began to take note of what she was wearing, a much much too big shirt that came down almost half way down her thighs, and it was very light and loose on her. The pants she wore likewise were rather loose and light, like some kind of casual slacks and her feet were bare and exposed underneath what felt like a very warm, comfortable blanket that she'd inadvertently wrapped around herself in her sleep. Speaking of which, that which she laid on was extremely comfortable, light and plush... like a bed. A Bed?!

Fuu immediately jolted upright, patting her sides until realizing her Zanpakuto weren't there. It took her another moment or two before she remembered the last thing that had happened, the Demon who'd given her such desperately wanted affection that she had found herself unable to even try to pull herself away.... The Demon who'd talked her down from quite literally the edge. It didn't take her too much longer before she found her Zanpakuto and as she grasped them everything began to come into focus for her and she could begin taking in what was around her.

It was a small room of sorts, clearly a spare bedroom that she'd been placed in. Taking her two Zanpakuto with her, she didn't bother getting changed and instead decided to begin exploring the house she was in, her feet light as a feather as she carefully and slowly made her way around the house, trying to stay quiet just in case as her curiosity got the better of her. Her tail slowly flicked back and forth behind her, her ears raised to better take in the surrounding noises.

Truth be told she hadn't even realized yet that she didn't have her blindfold on, her curiosity of the new space taking hold quite quickly after she'd realized whom's abode she was likely in. She rather thoroughly explored each room she was able to slip inside, grabbing objects here and there to figure out what they were or what their purpose was. She always made sure to replace the object back as close to where she'd picked it up from as she could, but truth be told her curiosity ensured that at least a few of the objects weren't placed back where they were found.

When she did stumble into Ari's room, she had sat in the doorway for at least a minute or two just drinking in the smell before entering the room, digging into each of the drawers and carefully examining everything she found. She noticed there was a picture near to the rather large bed, a few other odds and ends and, some pieces of jewelry, of which one was a rather expensive looking necklace that she had placed around her neck to see how well it fit as well as a bracelet of some kind. However before she could remember to take them off, her ears perked up and but a moment or two later she found herself once more swept off her feet. At first she didn't recognize who it was and let out a sharp squeal of surprise, tinged with just a bit of fear. The scent of the room having obscured the scent of the woman, though when she heard the voice she was rather swift to calm down and smile.

The first few words did elicit a slight blush from being called her 'little kitten', something that admittedly nobody else had ever referred to her as. "Oh heh... S-Sorry, curiosity got the better of me..." She said softly in response to being asked if she enjoyed her roaming around. But at the mention of food, not only did her stomach growl but her ears perked right back up and she smiled before nodding "Food sounds wonderful right now~" She said, leaning into the woman as she was carried off. She rested her head against Ari's shoulder, one arm reaching up to gently hook onto her other shoulder as Fuu's other arm rested in her lap.

Her nose picked up the various scents of food that were prepared and waiting, and she couldn't help but lick her lips in anticipation as they neared closer and closer with each step. As she was placed into the chair, Fuu's head pushed into the hand that gave her the soft pets, at least showing that it wasn't just a fluke that she enjoyed being pet. "Mm... Everything smells really wonderful~" Using her nose to sniff around until she found something particularly delectable smelling, grabbing a large leg of some kind of poultry before taking a large bite out of it, tearing the meat off slowly, making sure she ate slowly as she was told. Her ears raised to an almost 90 degree angle as her tail swiped back and forth behind her slowly but happily, and while she did eat slowly, each bite was as big as she could possibly manage to fit in her mouth.

Fuu ate mostly in silence, enjoying the occasional pets that were given to her whether they be on the head or back. While the majority of what she ate was meat-oriented, she did delve into a few vegetables like carrots and a bit of lettuce even. When the hug eventually came, Fuu did indeed lean into the embrace happily, at which point she was questioned as to what she wished to do first after her long rest and truth be told she wasn't entirely sure. Thinking back to the events that led her here, there were so many things that she needed to do yet she knew not how to do most of them.

"Well... If we're being honest, I need to figure out how I am to earn my redemption it is right for me to have it, though I'm unsure of how I might go about doing that. My usual resort when I need to figure something out is either meditation or training. You see, I practice T'ai Chi, a martial arts focused around complete and utter balance in all things at any cost. It has served me well in combat, aiding me in not only defense but offense as well and ensuring I remain without overexertion. Though admittedly my training seems to be inadequate, I don't know if the hollows I fight are simply too weak or if I am simply training incorrectly. It's been a long time since I had a sparring partner that could help me figure these kinds of things out."

Fuu knew that, if anything, returning to her T'ai Chi roots would be the key to figuring herself out... She was just struggling to figure out how it would do that. "Perhaps the answer lies within the Major Yin/Yang, though I'm afraid I'm not strong enough to manifest those outside of my meditation. I can channel the Minor Yin/Yang easily enough" She paused, looking to her hands, one of which flickered with a familiar black energy before it swapped to the other hand which flickered with a white energy. "but I cannot use them at the same time, which means I do not have balance between even the Minor Yin/Yang, and without even that I'm afraid I don't possess the balance required to manifest either Major outside of my meditation anytime in the foreseeable future."

As she listened to Arianda she partially nodded, she didn't want to explore her past... it was a touchy subject that only brought with it pain and agony for Fuu. She much preferred focusing on the future and figuring it out rather than her past, but she knew her prior attempts hadn't made her stronger so maybe this new approach would. So she nodded and did as instructed, taking up her usual meditative stance, crossing her legs and placing one hand flat on each of her thighs. She gently drooped her head just a bit as she began to focus, starting with her breathing first and foremost. Thinking about her past was a painful subject, the most prominent memory being her first few weeks within the Shin'o Academy, spent in near unbearable grief and rage over the news of her Mother's passing, and the reason that she was told. Even if it wasn't the actual truth, the news she got was from her Father, that her Mother had fallen ill and passed away due to a cursed relic of the Quincy's.

It filled her mind and heart with so much rage, she'd found it near impossible to continue on within the Shin'o Academy... and yet rather than drop out, she'd resolved to use that anger and hate in her training. To use it as a fuel that gave her the strength to carry on an persevere. Even to this day, and in this moment, the moment brought that rage and grief bubbling to the surface, tears falling down her face as she broke her meditation and covered her eyes, trying her hardest to stop herself from breaking down... and slowly losing that battle.

Fuu's face was buried in her hands as Arianda pulled her off the chair and into her embrace, The more Fuu tried to stop herself from thinking back to those early days the harder and harder it became until she was sobbing almost uncontrollably. It took Fuu a solid five minutes before she'd calmed down enough to be able to process questions "Only that a cursed quincy cross was to blame, a cross my Father sealed inside of a silver box and buried deep underground so nobody would ever fall victim to it again." Fuu had no idea where her Father had buried it, for all she knew he could've buried it somewhere far from the Rukongai such that none save maybe a Shinigami may eventually stumble across it.

"As for finding it, that would be nothing short of a miracle. My Father hid it away, and he alone knows its new resting place. But revealing its location is something he would never do, for fear that its curse would take hold of someone anew and cause yet more suffering. Given we lived through the Quincy's recklessness and the Quincy Massacre, it isn't something I'd want to go looking for anyway even if my Father would tell me its location. For all I know it could have an even more pronounced effect on Shinigami."