Spooky Scary Shinigami [Closed]

The little bastard thought that they could sneak up on him, did they? Likely another beast, Kazuto had recently noticed that along his way to the menacing castle of Las Noches, he had begun to be followed by a significant, though not powerful energy signature. The being was distinctly hollow in spiritual nature, but there were some rather unique elements to it’s spiritual aura. The feeling Kirito got from it was very… jumpy and energetic, a highly childish feeling. It was as if he was being chased by a toddler who didn’t know how to walk on his or her tip toes yet, and therefore was making a big ruckus while doing so.

Surrounding Kirito was sand. Lots of grainy, coarse sand, so he could see why this would be a place to stage an ambush: or maybe even a direct assault upon the blue haired traveler! He was at a light combat disadvantage too. Sand had gotten into his shinigami standard shoes, and begun to chafe upon his ankles. It wasn’t easy to move forwards either, his feet sinking themselves into the ocean of grainy particles consistently, hindering his ability to walk.

That didn’t matter though. As he had promised, Kazuto would absolutely and utterly annihilate any and all threats which came into his path while attempting to succeed in his quest.

However, this hollow, unlike the countless other rank and file gillian, adjuchas, and standard class hollow beings he had run into on his journey to the Hollow Night’s Castle, was intriguing. Generally, Kirito could get a good idea of somebody’s intentions from their spiritual signature. The same went for this being, however, unlike the thirst, hunger, and blood lust associated with the energy of the other beasts he had encountered, this energy, despite being larger, was very… tame. It didn’t seem to be on edge, ready to leap at him. Could this hollow be… ugh, it pained him to say it, but friendly?

Probably not… Kirito thought to himself. However, it was worth the shot. The energy wasn’t large enough to give him a run for his money in combat anyway, so there was no real risk to the situation, was there!

Turning about, feigning some form of confusion as if he had just noticed the presence of the other being, he called out, faking a form of a questioning and intrigued tone with his words, as if acting like a somewhat on edge traveller, lost in the woods.

“...Hello? I know you’re hiding somewhere! You can come out, I won’t hurt you! I promise, see!”

Despite the utter stupidity of the action he was about to take, Kirito disregarded any risks. What fun was life without a little danger! So, like the idiot he likely was, Kazuto dropped his sheathed rapier blade to the ground, sand clouding up briefly before settling upon the blade. The scabbard had nestled itself well into the ground, only the hilt of the vibrantly colored blade still visible under the cloak of gold and grey.

Raising his hands into the air, Kirito’s brain let out a mischievous smirk into the back of his head. He was very interested in this hollow breed… Kirito couldn’t tell why just yet, but he knew that there was something different, something interesting that was pulling him towards the being.

Words: 554

The shinigami would likely not get the chance to see Ai for, as he turned, she ducked. Entirely hidden from view behind the safety of the dune she remained silent as her quarry spoke out. An odd request from her supposed enemy that just screamed trap or at least it would have had the little arrancar taken a moment to think it through. Of course, thinking it through took far too much time, why not take a more hands-on approach in matters such as these?

Dropping any pretense of stealth, Ai stood up and made her way to the top of the dune with a few quick steps. From atop her perch, she could just make out the man’s weapon not held in either hand but rather cradled by the white sand at his side, odd. Casting a wayward glance in the direction of Las Noches Levi’s words once again came to the fore, shinigami are the enemy.

In a movement accented by the mechanical whir of her sondio she joined the shinigami on even ground. For whatever reason—surely not her less than average height—she was always looking up to people and the blue-haired man was no exception. Though, as she searched his face, she found no evil in his eyes nor ill intent in his expressions; there was nothing to label him a monster, nothing to label him as the purported enemy he so clearly was.

Tricky shinigami…

“You shouldn’t be here,” Her voice sounded small in the vastness of her surroundings and was made even smaller by the uncertainty that tugged at it.

Taking a breath she drew her sword, or rather she tried to. The smooth arc she had hoped to showcase turned into a disjointed draw when the blade got stuck halfway out of the sheathe—getting the right angle was harder than it looked. Thankfully, she eventually wrestled the blade from her side and held it pointed at the man who stood but a few paces in front of her.

“Go back to your Seireitei,” She mangled the pronunciation of Seireitei horribly as if it were some foreign word. “We don’t want you here.”

To make her point she shook the point of her blade about in the air before centering it back on the man. Of course, a practiced eye would see that she held her blade incorrectly with its cutting edge directed to the sky. So much for the intimidation factor...

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WC: 408
TWC: 1028

Odd. There was a very distinct lack of murder going on, something Kazuto had far from expected out of the situation. These beasts tended to have only one thing on the mind, and that was their ever insatiable appetite. However, this hollow breed, which was almost certainly an arrancar, a hollow who had removed it's mask, seemed to be lacking in both the offensive nature and predatory aspects of the usual soulless husks he encountered. Maybe this was related to the somewhat excitable and childlike nature he had felt from the very... "active" spiritual energy of this female hollow? And even that, was that aspect of the beast even related to some portion of the girl's personality like a shinigami's spiritual energy tended to be?

 Who knew?

Of course, that was a question to be answered along with several others later. What mattered at the moment was the situation at hand: the girl, because that was what she was, nothing more and nothing less, was pointing her sword at Kirito. It was odd though. His eyes met with hers, both pools searching each other for information of some kind: almost like a probe, a lie detector of sorts, some sort of attempt to discover a possible ulterior motive behind eachother's actions.

It took a solid few moments for Kirito to realize that the girl had no motives of her own except curiosity motivated by what could have been a twinge of fear: maybe she had come to same conclusion for Kazuto. He had no way of knowing, of course. It had been relatively easy to notice after a short while, of course. Her posture was shaky, her legs were unstable, and she was trying to seem more intimidating than she was naturally. That, and she was holding her sword not only improperly, but in the wrong orientation, the cutting edge pointed up to the sky instead of the ground. All telltale signs of fear, or maybe concern for one's well being. He couldn't blame her: Kirito's frame and look at the moment weren't exactly the most welcoming. He was stained with dried black blood, remnants of previous encounters with other hollows that had occurred earlier, and his black coat was ripped lightly along it's right side, something Kazuto tended to stop from happening on most occasions.

But, lets shy away from what Kazuto thought he knew about what she was thinking, and move back to what he was thinking about the whole situation. To start things off... he wasn't angry, or dissatisfied with the lack of conflict: the break was nice, especially considering the lack of any sort of threatening air about the situation. It was just another slightly heated conversation to him, a part of day to day life. Which was odd: she was just another hollow, wasn't she?

No, something was wrong. He couldn't bring himself to see her as just another beast... there was something different about her. Was it how childlike she was acting, mispronouncing things as if she was a french person trying to speak faux Spanish, or was it something else? Did he feel... bad for her? No, why would he feel bad for somebody he knew nothing about? Was this all just a mind game she was playing to trick him so that he could become her next meal?

Ugh, the brain was a complicated thing. The point was, he didn't feel a need for conflict. So, in a rather shocking set of actions, Kazuto made an executive decision. He had no intention of killing this person, no matter the circumstances. For once, the man who slept with his sword would calm down a little and stop cutting at things.

With a flash of shunpo, Kirito shot himself just barely forwards and to the right with blazing speed, halting on the left of the arrancar's blade. Then, in another ridiculous movement, his hands burst forwards, grasping at the handle in her hands with one hand and holding onto the flat edge of the sword with the other. With his greater strength, Kirito then twisted his hands forwards, flipping the sword around so that it remained in the hollow's hands but it was now oriented properly, blade pointing downwards. Then, finishing the movement, Kirito flashed back to his original position, hands clasped behind his back. Blinking, he began to speak, giving what could be seen as some kind of twisted advice.

"You know, if you really want to intimidate somebody, shake a little less, and hold your sword properly. You'll get more laughs than you will quivers of fear if you keep acting like you just did. Regardless, you don't need your weapon. I've decided that I won't bother hurting you. I just need a conversation for once. So tell me, what's your name, arrancar? Oh, and you don't need to drop your sword if you want to feel safe. I won't argue."

Yes, conversation was what he wanted.

Words:825

A breeze, a light breeze was all Ai felt. Her hair swished back a forth ever so slightly at the shingami’s approach. No, she hadn’t seen him move; she blinked once and he appeared at her side. The only reaction she could muster was a widening of her eyes and an opening of her mouth as if to gasp at what she had just witnessed, or not witnessed as the case may be. Her mind screamed at her to attack, to retaliate, to show the shinigami exactly whose home he had wrongly invaded, but her body would not, or rather could not, comply fast enough.

Despite her firm grip, the next thing she knew the smooth bone hilt of her blade twisted through her hand leaving behind a properly oriented sword and the residual warmth of friction. Of course, such warmth was no match for the fire that flared in her gut as her face contorted itself into a scowl, just who was this guy?

Swinging wildly to the right, she had hoped to divide the shinigami into two lopsided pieces, but her blade bit only air. The shinigami was fast, too fast for her. By the time her blade reached where the man’s stomach should have been he, once again, stood opposite her, which would have been fine. Yes, it all would have been well and good if he hadn’t started a smug lecture.

Flicking her blade back in the direction of the reaper she heard him out. For what it was worth, he would speak at sword point, though it seemed unlikely that it would do much good considering the man’s speed. If anything it served put the small arrancar’s mind at ease; better to have a sword between her and the shinigami than nothing at all.

“Ai,” Her arm bent weakly at the elbow as she spoke bringing the point of her sword down with it. “My name is Ai.”

Conversation? Not bothering to hurt her? If nothing else Levi had been right about one thing, the Shinigami were arrogant. Though, beyond the obvious arrogance, she could still not detect any malice in the man. Yet, it had to be there and she would find it.

“Now you tell me,” She started flatly, straightening her sword arm out again with a renewed will and steady hand—the man's advice had not fallen on deaf ears. “Why a shinigami is wandering…”

Squinting at the man she paused, what was that? Blood, it was blood.

“Why a shinigami is wandering about Hueco Mundo covered in blood, giving unwanted advice, and looking for conversation?”

When put into words even Ai found the whole situation decidedly suspect. The Shinigami had clearly battled his way through Hueco Mundo, so why did he stop now? More than stopping he appeared to have undergone a reverse course, a change of heart. It didn’t make sense. However, it was this lack of sense that kept her interest and prevented her from turning tail or attacking. This reaper was a puzzle and Ai loved nothing more than a good puzzle.
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WC: 514
TWC: 1542

Well, he had to give the little, (possibly?) young girl a great deal of credit: she was certainly very up front with Kazuto. She wanted answers, and from how she had asked the question after a slight moment she had taken to ponder, Kirito could tell she asked them very often. Inquisitive, clearly, much like Kirito had once been until the secrets of the world had been revealed to him. Of course there was still much that he didn't know, much that he wanted learn, but he no longer asked others for the answers.

After years of being alone in live, he had personally made the decision that it was better to seek out the answers to questions yourself. Best not to distill the ancients around you, lest you may attract unwanted attention of a generally negative kind. At least, that was generally how it had gone with Kirito. Of course, the boy had never had any trouble at the academy, so there had been far too much time he had on his hands to ask the questions of his teachers that even they could not answer.

In fact, once, when Kazuto had tried to infer more about the weaknesses of a shinigami made gigai and how they could be exploited, he had been detained briefly on the grounds of being a hollow breed spy, somebody trying to discover shinigami secrets and relay them back to the (then) king of Hueco Mundo, Obsession. Events like this had occurred regularly during Kirito's stay at the Shin'o Academy for Shinigami, clearly a hallmark of how ridiculously filter-less Kirito had been back during those four years.

Yes, the two could have once been very similar indeed. However, now Kirito’s voice and mentality had been tainted by battle, and experiences from the real world. Life wasn’t like the academy in any way at all, really: if that bokken training sword hit you, you were fine, however, when the sharp, murderous edge of a real blade cleaved into you… well, you were almost certainly done for. Of course, being cut, stabbed and maimed was a part of the shinigami job description, so Kirito had dealt with his fair share of it before: that didn’t mean that he had enjoyed it. Unlike how the light in the world had outweighed the darkness so greatly during his earlier years, Kirito now saw that the darkness of life was the true majority holder on the world. Those little beams of sunlight that snuck through the rain clouds were to be cherished. Every moment with a loved one, every second you spent enjoying yourself: they were to be savored forever.

Oh, and just to throw this out there, the girl had adopted the improved form Kirito had positioned her in, extending her arms seemingly reluctantly.

Damn, he’d gotten a little off of topic when it came to answering the poor girl, hadn’t he! Well, no longer. With a rather disinterested yet pushy tone, Kirito began to speak once again, giving the arrancar, Ai, what she had asked for, though not before commenting on her acceptance of his earlier handiwork.

“Ai? That’s a rather nice name. Sorry about touching your sword, I tend to be a little forthcoming sometimes… I just had to fix your stance though: I’m a rather adept user of the blade, you see. Anyway, I can’t say you’ll be happy about why I’m here… I’m covered in the blood of hollows, I won’t lie to you. However, I have both a reason and several reasons to back that reason up.”

Taking a deep breath in, he paused before dumping the load of information on top of her.

“As a shinigami, and you probably know this, my number one job is to keep the passage of souls to the afterlife going. That means stopping the creation of hollows, and sometimes regrettably, eliminating them on sight. However, I’m not here on official business. I’m here to fulfill a personal vendetta. You see, a certain hollow, likely a powerful one, kidnapped my girlfriend, Chie Kira. They attempted to have her make a gigai that allowed him access to his own powers: evidently, he failed. However, before she left, a hollow, who I believe to be one stronger than the initial kidnapper, infected her with what we call an “inner hollow”. I’m here to find both of those people, and kill them. Unfortunately, other hollows have gotten in my way, and of course, I have long since dealt with them. We’re natural predators to each other, Ai, so we’re bound to kill each other’s races, which makes me ask the question, am I a bad person for killing hollows just to redeem to honor of my lover? Hell, I somewhat avoid the normal ones, the only ones that really interest me are the perpetrators. In fact, the only people who could have beaten Chie into a weak enough state to be infected with that hollow in this whole desert are one of the two massive powers coming from that castle you call Las Noches! They’re my only map to the castle, but they are both so massive, It’s almost impossible to move in any other direction.”

He took one more deep breath before finishing. He wanted to let the girl respond, not overwhelm her.

“I’m not killing you right now, so that might be proof of some kind that I try not to kill anything that isn’t hostile towards me. I just can’t deal with losing people to hollows anymore… my mother, my childhood best friend... I lost them both to a hollow. I’m tired of not doing something about it, so really, tell me, am I wrong in doing what I’m doing? You have every right to move forwards and try to stab me right now. Just answer me first… I want you to make sure that that is the right decision.”

Talk about information overload, eh? It was quite impressive, how much of a motor mouth Kirito had.

Words: 1000 

An adept swordsman who willingly abandons his sword? Yes, arrogant had been the correct word from before, though ignorant might do just as well in this case. Frankly, the label didn’t much matter, arrogant or ignorant, both served to put Ai at ease. Arm slacking to her side, she brought her blade down with it; in spite of what she had seen of the shinigami’s speed, she was confident in her abilities, perhaps, though she’d never admit it, overconfident.

The blood of hollows?

Her sword arm tensed once more but did not rise. She should have loosed a guttural roar and rent the man’s flesh from the bone. She should have avenged her fallen brothers and sisters then and there. So many shoulds, yet she remained frozen in place as the cold touch of a sudden realization washed over her, she was looking at a murderer. This was the evil Levi had warned her of, this was what she had been watching for, this was the true nature of the Shinigami, black cloaked killers. Nothing else.

Of course, the question still stood, why didn’t she attack the shinigami scum? Well, much like a gruesome car crash, she found it difficult to look away. She wanted to see and know more. Luckily, the shinigami was nice enough to oblige her unspoken desire, which made it much easier—fewer questions that needed asking and all that.

Personal vendetta, gigai, girlfriend, inner hollow, predators, and the list went on and on. Ai followed along as best she could, but much of what the shinigami said went in one ear and out the other. From what she could tell he had come to Heuco Mundo, cut through a whole host of hollow, and wandered through the endless desert for a girl. Surely, no single person was worth that; the shinigami was undoubtedly delusional.

Worse yet, the delusional shinigami seemed dead set on killing more of her family, more hollow, in some misguided fit of revenge. No, that simply wouldn’t do; he couldn’t be allowed to get to shed anymore hollow blood. Perhaps he could be reasoned with, delusional didn’t necessarily mean unreasonable, right?

“Yes.”

The sword at her side flicked up centering on the shinigami for a moment before being guided back to its sheathe with special care taken not to prick herself with it.

“Yes, you’re wrong,” Her tone rose sharply and she cast an accusatory finger at him with her now free hand. “You didn’t have to kill my family and now you say you want to kill more of them. How is that not wrong?”

In her eyes, all hollow were part of one big twisted family.

“Couldn’t you just,” she paused for a moment before raising her voice again. “Just, I don’t know…ask nicely? You know, us hollows can be reasonable too.”

Ai nodded once as if to affirm her own statement.

“Oh, I know!” An undeniable excitement crept into her words the more she spoke, she had a solution. “How about you tell me a little more about who you think took your girlfriend? Maybe I can help you find them and there won’t have to be anymore blood. After all, you said you weren’t here on official business, so you shouldn’t have to hurt anyone, right?”

A slim friendly smile spread across her face. Yes, one could be both delusional and reasonable; who was it in this case, the little arrancar or the bloodied shinigami?
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WC: 576
TWC: 2118

She had a point. Kirito had killed this young woman's brethren, and with reason or without one, killing somebody was killing somebody, no matter how you spun it or whatever you called it. Murder was murder, execution was execution: they were all the same thing, regardless of situation. They all took the same mental toll as well: no matter why or how you killed somebody, your conscience always took an irreversible blow, something which many might not consider to be a bad thing. Truthfully, it wasn't. You should be feeling something if you had killed a person, or any living thing for that matter! In fact, you had something wrong with you if you didn't: that was what Kirito thought about killing, anyway.

Ironic for somebody who did so much of it, was it not?

Even more worrying was the actual amount of killing Kirito had been doing as of late. He was beginning to become desensitized to the act, a thing that he feared more than anything. The day he could no longer see the meaning in a life of any kind was the day that the real Kirito would die.

The woman’s blade flicked up at Kirito’s face. He was ready to face punishment of any kind at this point. Then, when she lowered the blade, a look of confusion spread across his face. He couldn’t help but mentally question the woman’s judgement.

Why is she sparing me? Why do I deserve to live after doing all of that?

That was what he thought about himself. Then, as the woman spoke, he realized that she really WAS young and new to ways of the world. She had wondered if he could “ask nicely”, and negotiate. It wasn’t always that simple: she needed to know that. Most of the hollows around here were entirely hunger driven, so it was pretty much inconceivable that Kirito could be seen not only talking to them without being attacked, but get directions from them as well. Then, she said something that intrigued him.

No… not she. Ai had said something: she was acting far to kindly towards Kirito to be addressed like any other female thing, she was a real, breathing person with a name. He would no longer address her as “she”, mentally or otherwise. Those you respected deserved far better.

Anyway, what had intrigued Kirito was her offer to help him find the hollow that had kidnapped Chie. He didn’t have much information, so he could only hope that Ai was very observant, but really, even with Ai’s help, it might prove difficult. Yet, it was an opportunity. One which Kirito would use. First however, Kirito felt he had to address Ai’s general… “niceness”.

“W...Why are you being so kind? I don’t deserve this… are you really okay with helping me? I mean, I can give you all the details I have. I arrived to the scene as the hollow had begun to move into Hueco Mundo through Negacion, so I didn’t get a good look at his face. I did, however, see the back of his body. He wore a… and I’m serious about this, yellow sweater, and whitish-gray pants. He was also a rather dark blond. And, that’s all I have, really. Sorry if you can’t help me, that’s alright.”

He hoped to god that she could.


Words: 558

Was she being too kind? The thought had never really crossed the little arrancar’s mind. After all, how could she be kind to someone who cut a bloody swath through her home? No, she wasn’t being kind; in her opinion, she was being practical. If she could guide the Shinigami through Hueco Mundo, and around the countless other hollow, a peaceful solution could be reached. No more violence, no more blood, and no more killing. It would all work out nicely, it had to.

Step one: identify the alleged kidnapper, with the key word there being alleged.

Bringing a small hand to her chin, Ai considered the description the reaper gave. Hueco Mundo, and by extension Las Noches, played host to thousands upon thousands of hollow, if not more, so finding a particular being would borderline on impossible. Luckily, the shinigami’s description seemed to indicate and arrancar, which narrowed the field down considerably.

Now, who did she know who wore yellow sweaters, khaki pants and had dark blond hair? The answer here was simple, Levi. The same Levi who introduced her to royalty, gave her a new home in Las Noches, and who was not half bad at tag. The only problem with such a conclusion, Ai thought, was that Levi would never kidnap anyone, he was much too nice for that. There had to be a mistake, a mistake she could fix.

“Well,” Her hand dropped from her chin. “I do know someone like that, but he wouldn’t kidnap anyone.”

Levi wouldn’t mind, right? It was just a misunderstanding.

“His name is Levi,” Ai reached her hand up almost a foot over her own head. “He’s about this tall with dark blond hair just like you said.”

A brief pause as the little arrancar considered her next words with care.

“He’s really nice though; I doubt he’s the one you’re looking for."

She then glanced down at the ground before her and aimlessly kicked at the sand. So much for locating the kidnapper. Now how was she going to convince to curb his bloodthirsty habits? There was always going back to plan A, cut him in two. Could she eat a shinigami and if she could would he even be worth eating? These important questions and more drifted through Ai's mind as she searched for a solution to her dilemma. Sadly, nothing obvious presented itself leaving her standing across from a shinigami who now, she had no doubt, wanted to kill her like the other hollow before her.

"Sorry…I guess you were right, I couldn’t help. Sorry."
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WC: 428
TWC: 2546

Well, that wasn't good: the girl knew about somebody who looked like the person Kirito had described, but apparently he wasn't the type to kidnap somebody. However, Kirito couldn't really be sure about that. If somebody was dastardly enough and something of an evil son of a bitch, they would rather easily be able to trick somebody as innocent as little Miss Ai into believing they were somebody that they weren't. Yeah, sure, he was probably overthinking this... but you had to be pretty damn sadistic to take somebody from their home all for... well any reason at all! Point and case, even if the man wasn't apparently the evil and plotting type, there was a chance, which meant Kirito had to pursue and at least confront the man in some regard, even if just for his own self closure. The chance of the man being anything like Kirito thought he might be was probably pretty low, even among the usually dangerous race that was the hollow breed. But, what would he do if the man was indeed Chie's kidnapper?

Well... he would give the man Ai's regards before sending him to the next life. At that point, Kirito was sure that he wouldn't be deserving of life, much less somebody as nice as this little girl to be friends with.

So, Kirito would take his chances. He first needed to console the girl, as she was clearly dissapointed that she hadn't been able to help. The veins of pacifism and innocence ran through her body strongly, and as much as Kirito wanted to be the same, life forbid him from doing so. Ironically, despite how fondly Kirito thought of this helpful angel among devils he was talking to, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was scaring her. She was shaking lightly, and her eyes held uncertainty within them: a clear sign that she thought he was still going to act malevolently towards her.

He wouldn't, and needed to make sure she knew that.

Quickly smiling slightly to display his first sign of positive emotion yet, Kirito began to speak with her.

"Ai... I'm not going to hurt you, and if this Levi guy is as nice as you say he is, then I'm sure I've got the wrong guy, and I'll let him off scot free.  I get why you're so on edge around me... I'm kind of your species' natural enemy. The thing is, like I said, if I have no reason to kill somebody, I won't lay a finger on them. I enforce justice, I'm not a fucking serial killer. Oh, wait shoot, meant FREAKING serial killer. Pretend you didn't hear that."

Kirito had forgotten that he was around a child... and no matter how old the girl probably was, her appearance brought with it it's own set of rules. Following this slip up, he continued.

"Anyway, what's this Levi guy like? Where can I find him?"



Words: 491

She jumped at the sound of her own name and glued her eyes shut. Yet, the cold steel she expected to pierce her chest did not come nor did any trace of the strange shinigami magic touch her. Taking a chance, she opened her eyes only to find that the shinigami had not moved an inch. Instead, as this shinigami seemed particularly apt to do, he was speaking.

Perhaps this shinigami was an exception? He hadn't attacked her yet and he seemed reasonable enough, he wasn't like the other shinigami she'd encountered. The others had always tried to cleanse her on sight in the most brutal fashion. Yes, he was different, that much was certain. Sadly, he did not speak for the rest of his people.

Fucking?

Ai tilted her head at the use of such a word. Her life as a human had been mercilessly short and living as a mindless hollow did not give much time for expanding one's vocabulary. However, from the way the shinigami corrected himself, she gathered that it was not exactly a word she should go tossing into her everyday speech. She'd keep that in mind for later; maybe she'd ask Levi about it? He seemed pretty knowledgeable and learning something new was never bad, right?

"Like I said before Levi is nice," she knew that wouldn't be enough of a justification, so she continued. "When I first met him he played tag with me."

Surely, that was enough to prove that Levi was not the kidnapper the shinigami was looking for. After all, if one played tag they had to be a good person, it only made sense. Bad people don't play tag. 

"Oh, and he showed me Las Noches," her words began to spill out of her in an ever quickening cascade. "It's this really great place, there are hollows everywhere and castles too. And and and, there's a queen, she's really pretty. The weird thing, though, is that it's all under a giant dome with its own sun. It's really really cool. Oh, did I mention there are castles?"

The fear that had once dominated Ai's mind and body had long since left. Her movements had become more fluid as she embellished her story with appropriate gestures such as pointing to her mask fragment when she mentioned hollows and reaching to the sky when talking of castles. Truthfully, she had been a bit disappointed in the castles as they were, more or less, spires and nothing more, but the place had grown on her as a home of sorts.  

"That's where you'll find Levi," she pointed in the direction of Las Noches. "Though you might have trouble getting in, some of my brothers and sisters aren't agreeable as myself."

A kind smile, not unlike the shinigami's from before, spread across her face when she finished speaking. If the shinigami was willing to avoid needless bloodshed then he deserved to know the peril of going to Las Noches. Even Ai knew going to the dome wearing shinigami black was an exceedingly poor idea.
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WC: 502
TWC: 3048

Well it was settled then. So the fabled Las Noches castle was Kirito's needed destination after all! Well, that was if the man Ai Shirai had described was in any way related to Chie's kidnapping, of course. The chances, as he had just noted, were very slim, so he wasn't intending on getting his hopes up, but regardless, the fact that the little girl had given him any sort of lead at all was a massive help, and one that he would make sure did not go without thanks. Even then, there were no words worthy of describing how unbelievably grateful Kirito was for this girl's help: it was astounding that somebody so young, so innocent, and so kind could manage to live among the beasts that hollows usually were. Hell, Kirito couldn't begin to describe some of the monsters he had run into on his several excursions to the human world. Just to give a basic example, one of the hollows he had run into earlier on in his Shinigami career had been a child serial killer. During his time as a hollow, the man began to kidnap and torture infants and little children, because, and I quote, "Their screams gave him a reason to believe there was a god".

Yeah. And that was the low end of things. To imagine that Ai could have lived among people like that for what he could only imagine was a long time... the thought simply sent shivers down his spine. 

After stifling a brief laugh, having heard the part of her speech about the man having played a game of tag with her, Kirito became serious once more. Turning to the young arrancar, Kirito looked her in the eye, a flat, respectful look on his face, before bowing and speaking in an apologetic, yet highly thankful tone.

"Thank you so much for taking the trouble to help me, Miss Ai. I refuse to let this opportunity go to waste, and as I said before, if this Levi man is innocent, as I expect him to be from your thoughtful description of him, then I will leave him without so much as a scratch." 

Raising up from his bow, he turned in the direction the girl had pointed in, and started walking as he picked up his sword from the grainy sand, sheathing it quickly. Yet, before leaving, he stopped briefly and glanced back at Ai, one more time.

"If I meet you again in this life, Ai, then I will be a man who has been beyond lucky. Until then."

And with that, the boy in blue disappeared, moving towards the castle as swiftly as he could. There was no time to waste.

-Kirito Exit


Words: 452

Total Word Count:3880