”Ooh!” Akane plastered her face to the store window, doing her best to get a better view of the screen inside the store. Though the store was now closed the TV screen inside was on and tuned into a cooking station. Even if she couldn’t smell or taste the food Akane’s mouth still watered at the dishes that would flash across the screen. She’d been hasty in sneaking away today… Maybe too hasty actually. Giving up lunch hadn’t been part of her plans but she’d gotten used to the new patrol’s scheduling and determined that if she wanted to make it to the human world on time then she would have to forgo food for a bit. At least long enough to actually get to the human world. Akane knew from past experiences that this place had restaurants where she could get food. One restaurant in particular came to mind, although thinking back on it she did wonder if they’d be happy to see her or not. The last time Mitsuoki brought her there she hadn’t exactly been the most considerate, having caused quite a ruckus in the kitchen and then shortly thereafter frightening a family of three with her abilities just so she could get the chicken nuggets their child hadn’t eaten…
The weirdest thing about this TV showing different kinds of food was easily the fact that the rest of the store didn’t seem to have anything whatsoever to do with any actual food… ”So hungry…” Akane groaned in disappointment when the screen holding her attention switched to a news announcement. Breaking away from the window she started slumping down the street. The girl wondered if maybe she should just chance it and go to the restaurant. Surely they’d have some spare chicken nuggets to give her right? If she was lucky they might even have forgotten she’d ever caused problems for them in the first place. Actually now that Akane thought back on it, Mitsuoki had spoken to someone at the restaurant and they hadn’t seemed particularly mad at her after that so… ”Yes! Nuggets it is!” She closed her hands into fists and excitedly pumped them in the air. Little did Akane realize that she lacked one of this world’s more important necessities… Money.
She stopped at the corner of the road waiting for the street lights to turn so she could cross. It was something she’d discovered previously. For some reason walking the roads and paths in the city required people to follow the three colored light laws. It was very unlike the Rokungai where one could walk anywhere at anytime and without having to stop for weird metal vehicles called cars. In fact she’d even tried to disobey the lights once… The result of her attempt had been someone, a stranger, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. They told her she needed to be careful and couldn’t walk across the street until the light turned green. Such strange rules…
Along the way to the restaurant Akane noticed a place of interest. A playground! She dashed over and looked around. It appeared to be part of a larger park area. People, mainly parents and their children, were enjoying the facilities. Kids played, in the sandboxes and on the wooden, plastic, or metal contraptions strewn around the area. There were even slides and jungle gyms. Akane’s eyes lit up and she made to close in on an empty swing set. But she stopped short when the grumbling of her stomach reminded her of a more pressing priority. ”After I get some food I’ll be back.” Akane gave the swing set a smile before turning on her heals and heading back down the road. Food first, then playtime. She’d be back and unlike the TV that taunted her with delicious looking food from behind an invisible barrier, the park wasn’t surrounded on all sides with such a contraption. Actually she highly doubted the park ever had a barrier around it at all. Which was fine by her. Though she hoped a barrier wouldn’t appear before she got back… that would just be devastating. Akane decided to double her pace. If a barrier did surround the park then she wanted to be back before it appeared.
”Haaai!” Akane arrived at the restaurant, enthusiastically greeting the hostess inside.
“Can I help you?” The hostess asked, looking around to see if the girl had any accompanying adults with her. She let out an exasperated sigh when she couldn’t identify any immediate parental figures nearby.
”Table for one please!” Akane grinned, holding up her index finger to indicate the one.
“Where are your parents at?” The hostess inquired.
”Mitsuoki’s working today so it’s just me!” Akane announced, a goofy grin still plastered over her face.
“… Give me a moment please…” The lady responded, checking her seating roster.
”Kay!” Akane waved at the lady, who turned and left her stand looking device to head into the back where the kitchen was. Ah that place! She’d been in there before. Worst mistake of her life. Granted it’s where all the delicious chicken nuggets seemed to come from but going in there herself to get more had proven to be quite a dangerous and unfortunately pointless endeavor. She wouldn’t make that mistake again so she waited patiently for the lady to return. The lady seemed a bit unhappy about something but came back to the stand and addressed Akane.
“Table for one. Follow me, I’ll take you to your seat.” The manager had okayed it so whatever… she’d show the kid to a seat and assign a waitress.
Akane hopped up into one of the table seats and looked over the provided menu. Thankfully there were pictures of the food she wanted since she still hadn’t fully grasped onto the concept of words and writing yet. ”I want this please!” Akane stated, pointing to the picture of chicken nuggets on the menu.
“Would you like four, eight, or twelve pieces with that?” The waitress asked. She too was a bit concerned with why the manager had chosen to let them serve a lone kid like this. Shouldn’t they have at least tried to get in contact with the child’s parents first?
”Twelve please. Oh! And this too!” Akane pointed to a picture on the menue depicting a glass of orange juice.
“Alright I’ll be back with your drink order. The chicken nuggets are made to order so they’ll be a bit longer.” The waitress informed the girl, taking the menu with her as she left.
While she waited for the food to arrive, Akane grabbed up the provided crayons and started drawing on the pieces of paper left on the table. Her drawings were particularly rudimentary and clearly lacking in artistic talent, which was unsurprising for one such as Akane… But she set down the crayon she was using, her Fox ears popping out and she paused to listen. She could have sworn she’d heard something just then. “So lonely…” The voice whispered. Akane was utterly confused, looking around the restaurant to see if someone was talking to her. She even looked underneath the table but still couldn’t pinpoint where the voice was coming from.
”Hello? Where are you? I can’t see you.” Akane spoke to the table legs, her fox-like ears twitching back and forth trying to determine a direction of the voice. “I’m so lonely…” The voice again, Akane’s ears twitched. Still a no-go. Where the heck could the voice be coming from? Akane lifted her head back to the top of the table in time to see the waitress coming over with her order and the mystery of the unseen voice was momentarily forgotten about.
”So good!” Akane squealed, stuffing another nugget into her mouth, coughing and saving herself with a gulp of orange juice when she nearly choked on the half inhaled chicken. Once the waitress noticed Akane was finishing up the last bit of her meal she printed off a receipt and placed it onto the table next to the girl. “I hope you enjoyed everything, do come again.” The waitress gave Akane a practiced smile before returning to the kitchen. Drinking down the rest of her juice, Akane picked up the slip of paper and stared at the numbers on it in confusion. “What’s this supposed to be?” She wondered. Giving the paper a sniff she deemed it to be inedible. It smelled similar to the scrolls she’d seen Mitsuoki studying before, but why would a place that served food give her something like this?
“Please… I’m lonely…” Akane’s fox ears perked up again, twitching rapidly in different directions. This voice was starting to make Akane feel suspicious. It couldn’t be her stomach because she’d just fed it lots of nuggets… She looked down at her stomach just in case. Nope, definitely not the stomach. Akane shrugged and got down from the seat before trotting out of the restaurant.
A certain irritated waitress would be having a stern talk with her manager later that day…
Akane pushed her hands through where she suspected a barrier might appear but was happily overjoyed when she felt nothing but air. The park was still open and accessible! Rushing over to the jungle gym, Akane quickly climbed up to the top and dropped underneath, hanging on the bars. Her shoulder length hair dangled down freely as did her lulling tail. “Lonely…”
”Ah…!” Startled by the sudden proximity of the voice Akane forgot to hold her grip and fell to the sand below with a soft thud. Wheeling around onto her stomach Akane quickly recovered to her hands and knees, looking around. The voice was definitely stronger here but where was it coming from? Actually now that she noticed it, the playground was unusually empty given the current time of day. Akane’s ears perked and shifted towards the nearby swing set when she picked up the squeaking of rusted metal moving. There sitting on one of the swings was a boy, maybe six or eight years old at the most. His head was bent over and he appeared to be crying.
As any curious yet cautious fox would, Akane crept out from under the jungle gym and inched over to the swing set. Upon closer inspection it became clear to Akane that the kid wasn’t human, at least not anymore… She could see the chains of the swing through his body and even the bushes behind him seemed to show through his seemingly translucent appearance. “So lonely… why won’t anybody play with me?” Ah! Now that she could see the boy she quickly ascertained that he was the source of the unusual voice she’d been hearing in her head.
”What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Insensitive Akane stood up and crossed over the rest of the way to the boy.
“You can… see me?” The boy sniffled, his surprised gaze shifted up to look over at Akane.
”I can hear you too.” Akane grinned, pointing out her fox-ears.
“Strange ears…” The boy sniffled again, taking in Akane’s unusual animal-like features with a grain of confusion.
”They are not strange! They’re normal!” Akane pouted, defiantly sticking her tongue out at the boy’s statement.
“No… they’re definitely strange…” The boy confirmed.
”Are not!” Akane argued in protest.
“Are to.”
”Are not!”
“I thought everyone would keep ignoring me.” The boy chuckled softly, discontinuing the pointless arguing. This girl had a strange appearance but she still seemed to be human. He was glad that at least someone had chosen to acknowledge his presence.
”Why are they ignoring you?” Akane’s face wriggled up and contorted into a look of utter confusion. Who could possibly ignore someone like this who was capable of making his voice be heard from so far away like that?
“I think they’re all just scared. I am a ghost after all.” The boy reached out his hand as if to confirm with Akane. His palm opened, he stared at Akane through his hand. “See.”
”Mitsuoki’s a ghost too though. What’s there to be scared of?” Akane reasoned. At least she was pretty sure Mitsuoki was a ghost, although she’d never been able to see through him before she did live with him in a place called Soul Society...
“Mitsuoki?” The boy tilted his head, uncertain as to whom Akane was referring.
”Yeah! He takes care of me! We live in Soul Society!” Akane stated proudly as if the boy should know what she was talking about.
“Sorry… I don’t know what Soul Society is…” The boy admitted in disappointment.
Akane Took up residence on the swing next to the boy ghost and spent the better part of half an hour explaining to him what Soul Society was like. ”And whenever Mitsuoki’s not forcing me to train with him I get to play with all the kids too!” Akane concluded.
“I see… That actually sounds like a lot of fun. I wish I could go there…” Though he’d been smiling while he listened to the girl’s stories, his face became mellow with sorrow at the thought of his permanence within the playground.
”I could take you there if you wanted! It’s lots of fun! I’m sure you would like it too!” Akane turned to the boy and clasped his hands in excitement.
Akane’s gesture and the strangely physical contact she made was unusual for the boy. Until today he hadn’t once met anyone who could hear or see him, let alone actually touch him. “Sorry but I can’t leave this playground…” He claimed, shaking his head.
”Of course you can! It’s easy, I’ll show you!” In her enthusiasm Akane grabbed the boy’s arm and tugged him off the swing despite his protests. Her efforts to move him went with little resistance, the boy simply sighing and let the girl pull him through the playground and out towards the street. Akane’s progress was going well until she got to the edge of the park, her grip on the boy’s arm momentarily letting go. “What’s wrong? Why did you stop?” Akane turned around in protest to the boy but stopped when she noticed the problem.
“See… It’s because of this thing that I can’t leave the park…” The boy sighed dejectedly.
”Oooh…!” Akane didn’t mean to stare but this was the first time she’d actually seen the fabled Soul Chain in person. The chain extended from the boy’s chest and back into the depths of the park. What Akane could see of the chain was drawn taut. Curious, she gave the chain a little tap.
‘I’ve tried to break it before but it’s too strong.” The boy stated, confident in his understanding of how capable the chain was in restricting him.
”No! You shouldn’t break it! Breaking the chain is really bad!” Akane flustered, grabbing the boy by his shoulders and staring him in the eyes, a dead serious expression on her face. “If you break it then bad things will happen to you!”
“What!? But the chain is what keeps me from leaving this place…” The boy’s gloom grew as he stared down at the chain that seemed to be permanently attached to his chest. So he wasn’t allowed to break the chain then?
”I have an idea. I came here with a guy from Soul Society. I think he can help get you out of this park.” Akane reassured the boy. Though making contact with the suggested Shinigami kind of meant exposing the fact that she’d used him to sneak out of Soul Society… But she didn’t want to see the boy remain sad just because he couldn’t ever leave the park.
“Does… that mean you’re going to leave me…?” The boy muttered in a hushed whisper.
”I’ll be right back as soon as I find him, I promise.” Akane nudged her forehead against the boy’s in reassurance. It was a promise. She would find the Shinigami and she would bring him back to help out the boy.
“Okay… but please hurry… I don’t like being alone.”
”You can count on me!” Akane grinned, letting go of the boy and dashing off. She had a general idea of where the Shinigami was right now. Whenever he wasn’t out fighting hollows or sending off spirits he’d usually keep to a designated schedule and path for his patrols. Akane judged based on the location of where the sun sat in the sky and moved to intercept him.
Which… was a lot harder to do on foot when one had to obey the stupid street lights… Akane stood tapping her foot impatiently at one light, glancing around frantically to make sure she hadn’t missed the Shinigami. ”Ah…!” She spotted him jumping from one rooftop to another nearly as soon as the light turned green and proceeded to give chase. “Hey! Mister Shinigami! Wait for me!” Akane shouted once she’d gotten close enough to be confident in his ability to hear her. And hear her he did. He glanced down, noticed Akane, and turned back to continue his patrol. But he suddenly did a double take. This was seriously bad! How had Mitsuoki’s charge ended up in the Human world!? Worse still… she was talking to him which could only mean one thing… The Shinigami’s features turned deathly white as he halted his movement and descended to Akane.
“H-how did you get here!?” The Shinigami asked Akane once he’d reached her. He was fairly certain she couldn’t obtain a pass to come to the human world on her own… Oh gods if she’d used him to get here then he would be in some very serious trouble if Mitsuoki ever found out about it.
”Come with me!” Akane motioned for the Shinigami to follow.
“O-oi! Wait!” He protested, but followed.
Akane didn’t stop until she’d reached the park again. ”I brought him with me!” She waved, grinning at the boy ghost.
“Seriously… why didn’t you wait. Please explain to me how exactly it is that you managed to come here… hm…?” The Shinigami tried to reprimand Akane but stopped when he noticed the Plus Soul the girl was waving to. The park was definitely within his patrol rout… so how had he not noticed this boy here before?
”He says he can’t leave the park. You can help him out with that right?” Akane turned to the Shinigami.
“Uh… yeah… Yes I can.” The Shinigami responded, taken aback by Akane’s pleading with him.
”Can you help him then? Pretty please!” Akane tugged at the Shinigami’s uniform as if she needed to beg him for the help.
Placing his hand on Akane’s head to calm her down, the Shinigami stepped around her and knelt down in front of the boy. This was a part of his job too. Of course he would help out this child. It didn’t sit well with him to think that Akane had somehow found a lost soul that he himself hadn’t noticed before… “It’s alright, you don’t have to worry about being alone anymore.” He reassured the boy ghost, tapping his forehead with the hilt of his Zanpakuto. The boy responded with a quiet smile and waved at Akane. Suddenly he didn’t feel so alone anymore.
Akane returned the wave, watching as the boy faded and disappeared. His soul now officially sent on to join other pluses in Soul Society. ”Ah!!!” Akane screamed, startling the Shinigami.
“W-what is it!?” the Shinigami asked in alarm, readying his Zanpakuto. Had she spotted a hollow?
”I forgot to ask what his name was!” Akane cried out in horrified realization.
that's fucked up on so many layers
