The Beginning {Private, Dai and Pockeh}

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The twilight of karakura town revealed to the masses a spectacular site, as one by one, stars twinkled to life in the slowly darkening sky, while at the same time, lights shining from buildings and street lamps all over the city created a sort of miniature star field, being the city itself.

The weather was mild, not being too hot or cold, and there was currently a small breeze coming from the northeast. With not a single cloud in the sky, it was looking to be a beautiful night. In the forest, the animals began finding their own places to sleep, apart from those nocturnal beings that were just now waking up. It was one of the most eventful times of the day, with humans, animals, and even the heavens themselves actively switching routines.

However, for one quincy, this night wasn't for switching up her routine, nor was it for admiring the beauty of the twilight. No. Today was the anniversary of the day that her parents were murdered, brutally, in front of her eyes. Tonight was not a night for beauty. Tonight was not a night for training.

Tonight.. was a night to mourn.

Mari Makinami, a quincy at the age of 19, walked down the same path she did every year on this day. Directly from her apartment to the graveyard, a total distance of one mile, but the walk was worth it for reflection, consideration, and a good staller for the emotions she'd have to face upon arrival.

The brunette walked as a slow pace, she had already closed two thirds of the distance, and she wasn't too keen on hurrying up when it came to actually getting there. Her gaze was unreadable by anyone else who happened to be walking in the same area, her face an emotionless mask as she solemnly kept her course. Her light-blue eyes staring straight ahead, not bothering to look at the ground or let her eyes wander. Her five feet and nine inches in height carried her quickly the last one third of the distance to her destination. The graveyard. The very same one she knew her parents were buried in, although she hadn't attended the funeral due to her self-imposed exile, she had known they were here. She could almost feel them.

And that's how it was as she stepped into the threshhold of the graveyard, walking the last fifty steps or so to her mom and dad's grave, positioned right next to each other, as per their request. She moved her body to where she was standing an inch in front of them, in the exact middle of the two graves, before looking at the untouched earth that lay between the two headstones. She could. She could feel them under the earth. Their decomposed bodies mocking how utterly alone she was. It.. it wasn't fair. How in the hell could it be? She had no siblings.. so life had, what.. just decided to dump her on her own? Mari shut her eyes, tsking at her own stupidity and sniffling, trying hard to hold back the tears she felt coming. It.. it would do no good to cry. They were gone.. they had been for.. for years now. There was no bringing them back. She.. had to be strong.. for her race.. she was a slayer of hollows for.. god's sake. Another emotion overtook her then. Anger. Pure driving rage at the monstrous arrancar that had slain her parents all those years ago. She had never felt any such hatred for a being before, and she doubted she ever would. She had promised to slay that monster, if she ever found him.. but.. she hadn't yet.. that ... thing.. had.. taken... the only family she had ever known..

There was no fighting it now.. Mari's lip began to quiver as her eyes lowered, facing the ground at her feet. Her body grew weak, her own weight lowering herself onto her knees as the presence and emotions brought upon by this location.. this day.. this time.. this event.. all overwhelmed her.. She stopped fighting. Finally she gave in.. Finally...

Mari wept.

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That.. that first gentle touch on the shoulder. It was the simplest of gestures, and yet it would be burned into Mari's memory forever. That one touch that changed the fate of the young quincy.

Yes, she wept. She may be nineteen, but the emotion overtaking her wouldn't let her control it. And besides.. the subject was touchy as it was. She wept for not being a strong enough quincy to stop her parents' death. She wept for them not being a major part of her life after that, no matter how many times she had looked to them for guidance.. but most of all.. she wept because she still loved them, and always would. She couldn't have asked for a more loving family in her lifetime, or any other lifetime. She.. she would miss them.

It was then, in her weakest moment, her skirt wet from dropping tears and her cheeks soaked from their path, that the shinigami found her. She could tell, even through her watery and emotion-filled eyes, that the uniform the woman was wearing was indeed one of a shinigami. What rank, she knew not, nor did she care, for this particular death god was obviously compassionate, at least on some level. Mari accepted the reassuring touch on her shoulder, her cold nature not pushing through in her heightened emotional state. In a normal circumstance, she might've pushed the woman away, but.. she needed the comfort.

The woman's words were both uplifting and soothing as Mari let her body be moved. Feeling herself taken into a warm and comforting hug. The quincy wrapped her arms around the death god, the tears still flowing as she buried her face in the woman's shoulder. She didn't want to look so.. weak in front of her parents like this... but she had no choice.. she couldn't control herself.. curse her emotions getting the better of her.. but it was all she could do not to go into hysterics. Her crying was mournful, and yet also bittersweet. She had lived a good life, learned to support herself, and had become stronger than she ever thought possible.. but she had also killed.. she had fought ferocious battles for herself, and for her friends. Would her parents be proud of her? Would they have accepted her ideals and commended her for protecting her friends? Or would they be ashamed of her? There was no real way to tell now, she guessed...

An eternity passed, or at least it seemed like one, before Mari's crying began to fade, the sad and bitter noise removing itself from the air slowly but surely as Mari pulled her face from the shinigami's shoulder, embarassed by the tear stains that looked to soak all the way through.

"Oh.. I.. I'm.. so sorry.. Miss..." Mari stuttered, sniffling a bit. "W...were those expensive? I can pay for replacements if.. if you need me too.. I'm sorry i.. couldn't control myself.." Mari sighed. "Maybe.. the uniforms are free? Sorry if I.. don't know really how the shinigami world works.." Mari sniffed, letting her arms fall to her sides as she met the shinigami's eyes, her own tear-soaked light-blue meeting the shinigami's own blue orbs. "I.. I'm Mari Makinami. Quincy. And you?" Mari forced a sad smile, wiping a tear from her cheek and attempting to hide the emotion in her eyes by pushing up her glasses.

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Mari could sense some of her emotions might have been.. what was the exact term.. rubbing off on the shinigami, a bit. Mari couldn't imagine why... this woman had said she had lost someone as well... Had she lost both of her parents as well? If so... Oh god.. Mari realized, she had been so selfish.. crying on the girl's shoulder all this time.. without even asking.. now she felt horrible.. But.. if that truly had happened, would the woman even remember it? Didn't shinigami forget everything that happened in their human lives after they become souls? Or was that hollows... Mari couldn't remember.. If that is what happened... Mari was certain the woman didn't' want to share such tragedy.. if she did, however, Mari was sure she would in due time.. She had let Mari cry on her shoulder all this time, so she couldn't be heartless..

Mari smiled painfully at the reassuring comment about the uniform. She really had intended to replace it if she needed to... Or maybe the uniforms really were free... she had to find a way to figure all of this stuff out.. eventually...

That's when it happened. It was quick, a simple gesture, and probably meant nothing.. but when the shinigami woman's fingers touched her face, she froze. Her arm, which had been in a position to push her glasses up again, had fallen back to her side. What... what was that? That feeling she had? And when the woman kissed her cheek... the same thing happened again... What.. she couldn't figure out what that was...

After her inquiry as to the woman's name, there was a silence. The shinigami woman looked... speechless. Could she have been? Why? What would've caused that? Was it something she said? Did.. did she offend her by asking for her name, somehow? Or maybe she wasn't allowed to give it? No, that's crazy. Mari slapped herself internally, she was overthinking things again. She really needed to stop being paranoid.

After only a short while, the woman's name resonated through the graveyard air. Solas.. Solas Foiche, huh? Mari smiled at the woman. "T..That's a beautiful name you have, Solas..." Mari smiled a bit, stunned by the fact that this caring.. compassionate.. gorgeous woman.. was a captain.. Weren't they supposed to be heartless, order-taking machines? Mind you, she had no problem with shinigami. They killed arrancar, they helped murder vicious beings like the one that took her parents.. there couldn't be anything wrong with them. But captains.. she had always viewed them as the untouchable, the invulnerable, the indestructible.. but this woman here in front of her, Solas.. was vulnerable. Emotionally at least, as far as Mari saw. But.. that just made Mari experience that feeling again.. the fluttering in her chest.. her stomach knotting up.. The girl's pale fingers.. so soft against her face as she made a couple tears disappear.. What.. what fate had brought this woman here? Mari smiled weakly, diverting her gaze down at the ground. "I.. apologize for you having to comfort me like that.." She turned her head reluctantly towards the graves, gazing at the headstones, "It's just.. my.. my parents... today is.. the.. um.. anniversary of their death..." Mari choked sadly in a vain attempt at a laugh, "How lame is this... Crying over something that happened years ago.. on my knees in a graveyard.. I'm pathetic, right?" She tsk'd aloud at herself, "My parents.. were the best teachers.. and the only family I ever had... and they're gone... And I've failed them... I'm weak..." Mari returned her gaze to the dirt, her eyes re-filling with tears as she shook her head and blinked rapidly, trying her hardest to push away the emotions. She.. she wasn't going to break down again.. not here.. not in front of so perfect a woman.. this.. this wasn't right.. she was.. she wasn't going to succumb to her depression.. she had made it this far.. hadn't she? And yet... and yet...

What... what was it worth.. if all you were in the end.. was alone?

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Mari was.. to say the very least... completely entranced by the woman's compassion alone. No one.. for nineteen years... no one had ever been this kind to her... Ever.. Short of her own parents, no one had cared enough to show her this much compassion.. or any compassion, for that matter... What.. what could... did it mean something more? Or was it just pity?

The meaning of the woman's name, to her, was beauty in itself. Light Wasp... so she shone brightly, whether in hearts or in skills, and stung like a wasp, whether in combat or in wit? She would assume this represented Solas.. Mari was.. truly starting to feel something unlike she had felt before for anyone else... Was... was this... no.. couldn't be... Mari refused to believe that a situation like this.. a meeting this trivial.. could lead to something as complex as... no.. no.. best not to dwell on it..

Another kiss.. this time on the forehead.. oh this was just torture... Was Solas trying to bait her... or was her compassion genuine? Was it at all possible that this.. this death goddess.. this captain of the gotei.. this amazing woman... had.. feelings for her? No.. another impossibility.. and yet..

The more she focused on it.. the more sense it actually made.. the more.. plausible it was... Could it be? Mari thought herself.. idly dreaming, if anything.. but..

More comforting words... S.... solas understood... She had the same experience... She didn't degrade mari, nor did she scold her... she simply understood... While tragic, it.. gave some real insight as to why Solas had comforted her this night... So.. it was out of relatability, not any sort of feelings for her, that Solas had come to her side? There.. really was only one way to find that out.

Suddenly, the sky, which but a minute before had been cloudless, grew stormy, the clouds breaking as the rain within cascaded down onto the city, the forest, and the graveyard, in buckets-full. Mari nodded silently to herself, knowing this was the best opportunity she was going to get. She looked at her parents' graves one more time, and said a silent word of hope to them.

"Mom, dad... I hope you're proud of me... I don't know how you'll feel about me doing this in front of you.. but I have to know... You guys.. you never wanted me to be alone... you always said.. I would find someone special.. well now I think I have.. so I ask simply.. for your blessing."

After a moment's more contemplation, enough time to give the rain a chance to almost completely soak her skin, she looked back up at Solas, her eyes a mixture of rain and tear-soaked. "F.. Forgive me.. but.. I have to know.." Mari said aloud. Then.. she did something she never thought she'd do in this lifetime. Mari pulled all her courage together, and shot her head up suddenly, crashing her lips against Solas' in an instant. The kiss was, in her mind, probably a mistake on her part. She knew she was going to get rejected.. but.. she didn't care. The quincy tilted her head, her slender arms wrapping around the shinigami's neck as her eyes fluttered closed, the rain still pouring down on them and the ground around them.

This was her favorite skirt, but she didn't care.

She was soaked, and freezing, but she was numb.

The only thing she cared about.. the only thing she felt right then..

Was Solas Foiche... 8th division captain who supported her, cared when no one else would...

And stole Mari's heart.

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Mari had to be crazy, right? Every pore of her body was screaming at her to keep going, to continue the kiss for as long as possible. This... was no infatuation that she was feeling, was it? The soft lips of the captain against the quincy's own conveyed only one emotion. Did Mari ever begin to suspect that she'd fall victim to such a feeling? No. Did she mind now that she knew she had? No. Was she enjoying it? The simplest and most accurate answer, was yes.

The biggest surprise wasn't that she was so obviously falling in love, nor was it that she failed to care about the pouring rain and soaked, muddy ground she was currently on. The biggest surprise was that the shinigami didn't pull away. This was a captain, one of the most powerful beings in soul society, and yet.. she had allowed a lowly being such as a quincy, herself, to kiss her in such a manner. Not only had Solas not pulled away, she had moved her hand to hold Mari's head, more encouraging the kiss. Mari had... definitely not expected that reaction. Mari could feel her entire body melting as she kissed Solas. It was an automatic reaction, she was putty in the girl's arms, if the shinigami would allow her to be. However, that was so obviously crazy talk. The kiss was pushing the line enough as it was, much less trying to make a relationship out of this...

Maybe.. just maybe... it would be possible. But that was a subject for later in the night.. if not another time entirely.. She'd deal with that when a better opportunity arose. For now, however, she just wanted to focus on the kiss. It seemed like an eternity, and she wished that it would be, before the kiss ended. Mari's eyes opened once more, and she felt a slight tingle on her lips, the feeling only increased by looking at Solas' lips. She.. would never forget that feeling... It would be absolutely impossible.

Then, Solas spoke, the simple words carrying with them a mixed message. Did Solas mean that it was good, but it was a one-time mistake? Mari sighed to herself. She really was an idiot, wasn't she? She looked up at Solas, biting her lip a bit in worry. "I... I don't know what came over me... Could.. could you ever forgive me? I.. I don't want to ruin anything.. I.. Oh god now I'm rambling.." Mari looked at the ground, shutting herself up and shaking her head a bit. Now she DEFINITELY knew this was going to end badly. She had just made a fool of herself.

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