Taking things Down Town [Tina]

Walking through the streets of karakura town, Jessy Nessa let out a sigh of boredom. She had been sent to karakura a few days ago, and she had had nothing to do since then. Not a single hollow had presented itself to her, nothing was happening. Today was the same as all the previous days, nothing had happened. She started moving faster, her blonde hair flowing behind her in the slight breeze. Her clothing was the same as always, her sleeveless red shirt fitting her perfectly. Her jeans had a few more holes in them, but are just as tight as always. She had one zanpaktou on each side of her, held in place by a brown belt. She had always been specific in how she dressed, and nothing anyone in her squad had said had gotten her to wear a regular shinigami outfit.

As she moved through the crowd, she looked up at the sky. It was bright out, and based on the position of the sun, it was about four in the afternoon. She closed her eyes, not caring to watch where she was going. Only a few seconds later, she felt herself bump in to something in front of her. Opening her eyes, she saw she had bumped in to a white haired man who was walking in the same direction as her. He was wearing a white T-shirt and dark jeans, a leather belt around his waist. Jessy stood very still, trying not to make any noise. She wasn't sure if the man could see her or not, so it was best to wait and see what happened.

Jessy looked up at the man as he turned around and spoke to her, her eyes fearful as he talked. She wasn't supposed to be here technically, she had sneaked out when no one was looking. The man didn't look like another Shinigami, but she had no way to tell for sure.

“I'm Jessy Nessa, and I'm not doing anything particular. Yes, I'm dressed differently then the other soul reapers, but those things look so ugly, there is no way I will ever wear them.”

Her eyes darted around as she spoke, her eyes never staying on one object for more then a couple of seconds.

“Sorry for bumping in to you, I was just having so much fun and forgot to pay attention.”

Her eyes lit up as she got the idea to ask the stranger something that had been bothering her.

“Um, sir, do you happen to know anything about zanpaktou? I need some help with something and, well, I was hoping....”

Her voice trailed off, and she wished she hadn't spoken. She felt embarrassed for having asked this complete stranger for help with her problem. She didn't even know if he could help her at all, and she hadn't even mentioned it to any of the people in her squad.

After hearing what the woman had to say, he nodded at her, stating that he had heard what she told him. She claimed to be here for no real reason and that she did not much enjoy the standard Shinigami outfit. Personally, he did not really hate it that much, black and white being colors he enjoyed, though the formal theme did not suit him at all. “Pleased to meet you Jessy, sorry for the earlier rudeness” he said, apologizing for earlier. It was not his intention to sound so rude, though something always put him on his guard when dealing with Soul reapers. Maybe it was just due to the wars in the past and the uneasy relationship with the Quincy families and the Sereitei, though he always felt uneasy around them at first. The funny part was that he was not really a racist man at all, and actually hated it when people claimed all Arrancar were evil, and all Shinigami were good, yet he still felt this way. It was just a momentary thing, because he knew that they had a lot of potential to become strong, stronger then most Quincy would ever become. In fact, it was not a fear that made him uneasy, but the fact that they might one die be trying to assassinate him for the Soul society.

Shaking the thought from his head, he shrugged his throat, preparing to make a small statement in order to deal with her apology. “You really don’t have to worry about it, it happens all the time. After all, this is one of the biggest cities of mankind, and by far the best protected, so bumps are bound to happen” he said after hearing her apology. It was nice to hear that people still had manners, though it really was not that necessary to apologize to him, seeing as everyone did it. Whether people just felt bad or angry or if they were in a hurry, they were always pressing and forcing their way through so they could get to their destination faster. It was a very human thing to always want to be everywhere as fast as they could, though he never really had this feeling himself. He had all the time in the world, having the means to get everywhere in the world whenever he wanted to be there, that was just why no haste would be required.

What came next was something he had not at all foreseen. She asked him if he knew anything about Zanpakutō, and if he had the ability to help her out with something she had struggled with for a while. “Please, call me Hitoshi, calling me sir sounds so strange. But yes, I do know a fair deal about Zanpakutō and their relationship to a Shinigami. I come from a long line of spiritual scientists and Quincy who have done research into these fields, and even though I am not a Shinigami myself, I consider myself to be one of the few people that knows just as much about them as some of the more knowledgeable men and women in the Sereitei. So, whatever the problem might be, I’ll see if I can do something to help.” Never before had he been asked to really help someone with something that mattered, so this was a new experience for him. It would be fun to help a Shinigami with a Zanpakutō related problem, that much was certain.

She looked down at the ground, staying quiet for a few minutes, then looked over her shoulder and back at Hitoshi before talking again.

"Um, is there anywhere else we might be able to go to talk? Somewhere more private?"

She seemed a bit scared to talk, as though afraid someone might overhear. This was true though, she had not told anyone about what had happened on her last official visit to the world of the living. It hadn't been easy for her when it happened, and she didn't want to have less of a chance to become a seated officer one day due to the incident.

"I'm sorry about troubling you, but I'm just scared. Something happened, and well..."

Her voice trailed off, and she looked down at the ground again, her face filled with worry. She didn't like to talk about this, but she really did need help. After what her zanpaktou had told her last time, she had become less confident, and her training, which she had already been slacking off from, became less focused. She didn't dare tell anyone from her squad, but maybe this man could help her.

After giving the girl her answer, he noticed that she seemed to be afraid of someone, or something. When she asked if they had some other place where they could go, he started thinking about the best possible place to go for helping a Shinigami. Remembering an old Warehouse not too far from here, he figured it would serve as a good place for them to do whatever it was she wanted to get done with her Zanpakutō. “There is one place we could go that’s not too far from here. It’s an old warehouse where most people don’t get all too close to. Some people believed that it’s haunted, making it a good place to stay at for a little while, if you want to remain somewhere you can be left alone that is. It’s just a bit west of here” he said, explaining where he would be going next. It would be a good place to go next, that much was for sure, especially if there were people out there looking for her.

Starting to walk towards the warehouse, he wondered what she had done to become wanted in the first place, being able to read her actions quite well. “If you don’t mind talking about it, I would like to hear about what happened while we walk. Most people won’t be able to see or hear you here anyway, so if you feel comfortable with it, please let me know what the problem is and maybe I can do something to help” he asked her, walking with a steady pace once he knew that she would be following him. In time, he was sure that she would come to understand that here in Karakura, there was nothing to be afraid of, not when she was with someone like him. He was not the strongest person in this place, but he was strong enough to look after himself when he needed to.

Arriving at the warehouse, he took out a rusty key and put it into the lock, opening the rickety old door and allowing them passage into the building. Before entering and closing the door behind him, he made sure that there was nobody following them, reading the area with his sixth sense. As a Quincy, he had no trouble with it at all, being among the worlds best, though he had never really tested his skills against an equally powerful Quincy, which was evidence enough of there not really being a whole lot of others as powerful as him. Inside of the warehouse was an old sofa, a chair and a large empty space, making it a great place to hide out for a little while.

She started walking slightly behind him as he led her to the warehouse he had spoken of. She shook her head when he suggested they talked on the way there and kept her mouth shut until they were inside the warehouse and she was sure it was locked behind her. She looked around at the place for a few moments before settling down in the old sofa, resting her swords next to her.

"I'm sorry about all the secrecy, it's just hard for me to talk about this. I haven't talked to anyone in my squad yet about what happened, I'm too afraid of what they will think."

She stopped talking for a bit, looking down at the floor before continuing.

"Last time I was in the world of the living I got in to a fight with some hollows, and during the fight, I was pulled in to my inner world."

She shuddered, remembering the event in vivid detail. It haunted her dreams to this day, the words her zanpaktou had spoken to her obviously extremely hurtful.

"My zanpaktou, it spoke to me. It... it yelled at me, saying I was lazy... he said..."

Tears started falling from her eyes as she repeated what her zanpaktou had told her on that day, the day that she wished she could erase from history.

"What have you been doing out there? You're a weakling, and yet you wield me? I should never have given you my power, brat! Listen closely kid, you aren't getting another shred of help from me until you prove yourself worthy of wielding me..."

Her voice was filled with sadness and pain, not reflecting the anger and bitterness her zanpaktou had said those same words in. She point her hands to her face, letting the tears flow freely, overcome by the sadness.

Hearing the girl as she told her story, it seemed like a pretty sad experience for her, especially since he Zanpakutō seemed to be such an unkind one. Every Zanpakutō was an extension of ones soul, usually the part one did not use a whole lot, their personality being the exact opposite of what their owner had going on. Going by what she said, it seemed to be true, the Zanpakutō being a cold and mean persona, while she herself seemed to be much more frail. Watching her sit on the sofa crying, he could not help but take pity on her. Letting out a deep sigh, he figured now would be as good a time as any to just start explaining about Zanpakutō, maybe get her cheered up a bit, or at least sparked out of her saddened state a bit. Hitoshi was no miracle worker, and all of the work would have to come from her, he was just a means of reaching the place she wanted to be at. He would have to make sure that she explained that it was something she had to do on her own in the end, though could receive support and potential aid from him when needed.

“Well, a Zanpakutō is an extension of your own Soul, so the best thing you could do is to meditate with your sword, seek it out inside of your spiritual world and put it to the test. Still, challenging a Zanpakutō is not an easy thing to do, for they hold all the powers your sword contains, even the things you might not have come to realize yourself. Yes... this truly is a difficult situation” Hitoshi said, bringing his hand to his chin, thinking about what the best course of action would be. In his case, getting his Zanpakutō to accept him was a very hard thing to do, but if he as a non-Shinigami could do it, he was sure that this girl could do it too. For now, it would most likely be a good thing to get her prepped for battle by just bringing her natural skills to a higher state. Even if she could not beat her Zanpakutō at this point, she did have to get stronger, potentially without receiving any help from her sword. If help did not come from it, she would simply have to become strong enough to fight without relying on something fancy such as a released sword.

He had seen people do it many times before, fighting with an unreleased sword, using skills in hand to hand combat, Kidō or simple swordplay that required no releases of any kind. Looking her over, he could not tell what her field of expertise was, or what she was training herself to be in the future. The information would be quite helpful, so for now, he would leave it at a couple of suggestions and pointers, hoping that she would be able to take it from there. “Perhaps a good start would be getting your own skills up a bit in order to get you ready for a confrontation of sorts. Training your basic swordplay, Hakuda or whatever it is you specialize yourself in as a Shinigami. By getting those skills of yours up, I am positive that you will be able to prove your sword that you are worthy of wielding it’s power. If it does not want to do so, you will have to become strong enough to fight without it, to show it that you do not need it, that you do not rely on it to win your fights for you.” It seemed like some pretty solid advice.

She calmed down as he spoke, taking a few deep breaths as she took in what he said. She wiped the tears from her eyes with one hand, then clasped them together.

"Thank you so much, it has just been really hard on me lately. He, Incisorius Tigre, isn't usually like this. He just..."

She shook her head and remained silent for a moment before continuing.

"He just has a very large pride and honor. You're right, I probably need to work on my swordplay, I have slacked off training a bit."

She picked up her two blades, still sheathed, and admired then, a smile coming back to her face. It felt great to have finally told someone about it, and it felt even better to have gotten such a warm response from what was basically a stranger to her. She looked up at the man, Hitoshi, and smiled at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry if I've been a bother to you, this has been worrying me for a while. Is there anything else you could suggest I do?"

She didn't want to bother him, but she also didn't want to go back to the soul society right now, especially considering they hadn't yet called her back.