Calm Before The Storm [Private, Fantasia, Yoruichi]

Stop time.

The setting was situated within the housing district in the outskirts of the grand and diverse city known as Karakura Central, among the modern homes of just one of the streets out here. Our protagonist, Fantasia Nevermore, was the lively wheat haired teen who was in mid-stride toward a place she never thought she could call home. She had one hand combing back from the top of her forehead, through the hair on top of her head, down the lengthy locks that drifted down to the small of her back—she was still in the middle of that action. She hadn't changed from when she had first arrived to Karakura, wearing her ebony light suit of armor underneath the spacious cloak of the same color. As could be inferred, the cloak's hood was down and resting lightly against her shoulders, while out of the back of it poked expansive grip of some weapon. The weapon beneath was 'cloaked', so others wouldn't be able to tell exactly what it was... There was a lack of sleeves to the cloak, and thus Fantasia was required to poke one arm out of the frontal opening between the two flaps, while the other would lie lax and out of sight.

Time, resume... and the world was in motion again. Fantasia completed combing her fingers through her own hair while a gust of wind animated the many individual strands. Leaves continued their brief drift to the ground and continued to tumble across the street innocuously. A closer look at the black tar used to pave the street and one would see the shimmer of heat coming off of it while the midday sun beat down on it—a hot, cloudless day. The gray hues of the girl shifted only a dozen degrees to the right to look at the lawn she could actually call her own: Rustling grass? Beautifully symmetrical hedges? A healthy apple tree? Madness and blasphemy. But such admirable sights couldn't distract Fantasia for any sizable length of time, when the focus of her mind was upon the two-story suburban home before her. She had just reached the doorstep of the place, and she longed simply to grasp the bronze doorknob.

Instead, she made sort of a semi-pirouette to face the rest of the neighborhood, before falling against the door with her back. With agonizing slowness, her back would chafe downward until she finally plopped onto her rear, and poked both of her arms out of her cloak to curl them around her legs so that she may... relax like this. This was not exceptionally strange for her, considering the beaten path she had to tread in order to finally get to this destination. The notion was just astonishing to Fantasia's mind, to know that she had finally accomplished this goal. She huffed a breathe in and out, heaving her chest, assuring herself that she still had bigger ambitions on her plate in the form of some body language. But that was nothing that could override her present joy. She spoke her mind in a whisper to-self, cracking a small smile; "We finally made it. Like finishing a chapter to a book, hm... It just makes us wonder what awaits."

Fantasia's eye lids drooped shut and she spent a minute or two just sitting there resting. Her chest moved up and down in uneven intervals, which was a telltale sign that she was still very conscious and connected to her senses; albeit she was just the least bit tired and at this point a small break wouldn't drag the sky down atop her head. When she reopened her eyes, they were scanning the area at a leisurely place, taking note of the similarity between the homes. There was also something else very apparent here. "Quiet place. Very quiet... Is it a bad time? Or are these houses vacant?" Even as she craned her neck to get a better view of the homes adjacent to her own (still wrapping her mind around such a comprehension), she was quite unable to locate another living soul. She didn't even begin to bother with her ability to detect souls inherently—every time she tried it gave her a head ache, and for what besides a blurry and confusing sixth sense?

Well, irregardless, she felt she was going to enjoy herself here. If the larger-than-life residencies were of any indication, then she at least new her standard of living would increase at least ten fold. For now, though, before she unlocked the place and explored it she would rest here, hoping nothing obscene disturbed her time of relaxation. Even the strong needed rest; it was healthy.

Only one person could hear the petite whistle of wind that blew through her nose each time she inhaled or exhaled, and that was she herself. A small, inconsequential detail about the young female, but something sound and logical for someone who had let the time get away from her just as well as consciousness. Exhaustion had finally caught up with the orphan, putting her into a light sleep. As the dreamless torpidity encompassed Fantasia and suspended her thoughts, the world around her would not remain static. Had she been awake, Fantasia would have noticed the dark-skinned female long before by sound of her feet tapping against the shingles of suburban roofing. Though that being not the case, at the very least the thunderclap of a clumsy faux pas would be enough to jolt the female out of her sleep. Funny thing is, that's exactly what happened.

Fantasia flew out of her posture and shot into the nearby brush in a blur as the sudden crash sounded within her yard; an impressive reaction time among humans. When she found the guts to poke her head over the shrub, she caught sight of the disturbance in clear day light—a human being picking herself up off the ground after what seemed to be her falling from the sky. There was a moment when Fantasia was thinking about the weirdness of the situation and wondering how and why this had happened, but those thought processes were obliterated from her mind when she realized the 'who' that had fallen into her brand new lawn. Hundreds of childhood memories assailed her senses in the span of a fraction of a second, ending on the vision of the dark-skinned female who had saved her life from a Hollow. The symbolic memory matched up with what her eyes were currently seeing, and despite the transit of six years, the woman had not changed in any iota of her being.

And she was walking away.

"No!" Fantasia screamed, falling out of her bush and onto the front porch again. She struggled for a moment, stumbling down the cement path that parted the grass of her lawn, but quickly recovered her footing and stood erectly; strongly. She held out her arm as though she were reaching out for the woman, afraid she might disappear if she strode a step more. "We know you!" she said in her raised voice again, but abashedly she looked down at the floor, and back up again. A shine appeared in her eyes as she focused the woman. This time more quietly: "We know you... Do you know us?"

Fantasia couldn't help herself; her automatic bodily reaction was to sigh in relief and let out a small smile as the woman turned around to acknowledge her. In a strange way, it was like finally meeting the hero of your childhood and having that person focus their attention on you of all people. It lifted her heart and made her feel downright special. Her words had done their job, catching the woman's attention and keeping her hear for the time being. There was a tinge of confusion on her face, but when she beamed her wide smile at Fantasia, there was nothing but warmth within her. Then came the answer, a small blow to the joy; she said she did not remember her most likely of her own fault. She threw in a small compliment by calling her 'pretty', which was completely unnecessary for her sake yet still managed to flush her cheeks for a moment. The latter part of her response bewildered Fantasia for the slightest as she mentioned imaginary friends. She didn't quite get the reference at first, but realizing how one might take her speech pattern, the mystery disappeared. Well, at least it was always a good conversation starter.

"No, no," she said while shaking her head to affirm that she was indeed saying no. She ran her hand nervously through her hair as she went over the explanation she was so used to giving. "Not imaginary friends. We're multiple people, but in one body. Uh, like the multiplication of the mind, but not the body... Except, we can multiply the body too, but for now there's just this one. It's... very confusing." She looked away again, thinking herself stupid for not correlating the explanation very well. She felt she could have done that way better, and thus was internally hitting herself on the head. Thankfully, he had duplicates of herself to do that for her. But she couldn't keep her eyes off of the woman for very long, shifting the gray hues back on her trim visage of chocolate-toned skin, clothed by a distinctive orange robe over a black undershirt of some type, and a pair of black stretch pants. Her hair was just as much of a standout, dark violet in shade and drawn up in a pony tail. And her golden eyes; Fantasia found her appearance endearing.

Albeit, she was one biased kid at this point. This was the image of the women who had saved her life, and the admiration couldn't be helped. All that needed to be done was to remind her of that experience, and for that Fantasia's eyes would stare directly into hers, dead-set serious now. "You sure you don't remember?" she asked in as calm a voice as she could muster. "It happened seven years ago in another part of Japan—a small shanty town. There was a hollow who attacked the neighborhood, and you saved the people of that place from the monster. We remember the exact words you said to us after that. You said... I'm sorry, child. And then you left." Fantasia's voice cracked on the last word as her face jerked towards the ground; again the memory played in her mind, clear as crystal. "So, do you remember the child you saved that day?"