A Stroll to Remember

Elly was playfully swinging her foot from side to side, when it slowed to a halt as Kaimu spoke. She sunk more and more as it continued. Oh god... Why had she asked him about this? What an asshole she was... She looked down and frowned. And he seemed so playful and fun just before. And all he wanted to do... She normally kept a distance from people, but he just seemed so... Well... Without a word, she scooted over and gave him a tight hug. "I'm sorry." She said, squeezing him firmly. "I shouldn't have asked."

Kaimu shook his head, "No, no. It's fine." He said, bringing back his smile from before. "I try not to let it bother me. My brother and our mother would hate to see me living so down so I've learned to brighten up. I just have to keep on living and keep on smiling. That's what I think they'd want anyway." He added, ending his sentence with a light laugh.

Despite the gloomy mood he seemed to have been in before, he now seemed back to his original self.

"If I let the past control me I'll be sad, and if I'm sad then they'll be sad."

She looked over at him. Part of her wanted to trade her own story. It's not like her life to date had been primarily happy go lucky. She had died only in the last few years after all. She was quite young for a ghost. But... Even though he smiled... Now she knew there was that sadness there. She tightened her hug, nudging his shoulder with her head. "That's really sweet... You should do that. It's um... It's impressive." She eventually let go of the hug and scooted back over.

"My family situation is uh... complicated... they're.... sort of still alive, after all... They just... You know... don't know I am... sort of."

"So you're still new to the whole dead thing, huh?" Kaimu replied, his voice soft rather than playful. "It must be tough, I'm sorry you have to experience that." He couldn't imagine what it must be like, having your family still alive but you having no way of ever being with them again no matter how much you want to.

As his own way of comfort, he brought his hand softly on her head. "It may not be much but..I hope things get better for you. I can't imagine what your situation might be like, but just know I'm rooting for you." He said, giving her a grin, even though he wasn't sure if his words really helped much.

She shrugged. "Relatively new. I mean, it's been... six years? I was only 19 when I died. It uh... Yeah, it sucked at first. But then Saraiyu took me in." She sighed, resting her chin on her hands. "I... enjoy it, really. I didn't always fit in super awesome as a human. I fit in pretty well as an Arrancar. So it's all good, yeah? I miss some things... But I don't regret what happened. So you don't need to root for me." She looked over with a smirk, before smacking at his hand. "And you don't need to pat me like a doggy."

Kaimu gave a chuckle as she smacked his hand away.

"I see, then that's good. Not many can adjust that soon, I've seen some souls take over a decade just to get used to the afterlife." He replied, his eyes moving to the sky again.

It felt good to just sit down and talk with someone, whether or not their were a soul within the Soul Society or an Arrancar from Hueco Mundo, it eased the mind.

She suddenly stood up, balancing on the ledge. "UGH... This is infuriating... I can't catch this dumb hollow and I don't wanna sit here just blathering on about sad stuff..." She paused. "Err, about my sad stuff. You're welcome to discuss yours at length if you please" She said with a smile, realizing what a faux paux she had made. "But otherwise... Hell, let's do something FUN! Let this pantsing hollow have his day. Whatever!" She said with a dismissive wave.

"Eh?" Kaimu looked up from where he was sitting at Eli, "Are you sure? Shinigami might come to deal with it." He could understand her frustration, but earlier she had seemed like she'd really needed to get it back. "If it's alright with you though, I'm game."

Thankfully, from what he'd seen, this hollow hadn't hurt anyone...physically at least. As long as it stayed that way he was content. He just didn't want anyone getting eaten while he was around and could very well prevent it.

She sighed. "Yeah, I just... I mean, he's a hollow. He can slip between dimensions and he knows not to get himself involved with Shinigami.... Really I was just sort of... bored and wanted to chase after him." She said, windmilling a little to keep balance on the beam before walking over towards Kaimu. "But! Now I met this curious shinigami fellow and that's far more interesting, don't you think?" It was true, the little guy would be fine. There would probably be pants strewn all about Hueco Mundo soon.

Plus, he WAS a curiosity. He'd explained his dillemma with the shinigami but something still seemed just a teensy bit off about him. There was more mystery here to unravel. "So! You know the area better then I. What's fun around here? Or we could go hang out in Hueco Mundo if you don't mind some dang-AHH!" She swung her arms wildly as she lost her balance, tumbling right off the ledge.

"I see." As long as it wasn't going to hurt anyone, he was content so with a breath, Kaimu stood and gave a stretch. "This district is a rather poor one, but some of the nice spots around here include the riverside, which is mostly just for relaxing or fishing, there's the flower shop, Hibiya's place, which is a little eating establishment. They've got some pretty nice soups there, but I haven't been there that many times. There's also a small general store which carries a variety of things, not much though it's mostly just different food ingredients and brooms, mops and such. "

Other than that there wasn't much, mostly just broken down shacks people used for homes, if some where lucky though there were a few that weren't in completely terrible shape, they were livable, which was mostly all the Rukon residents could ask for in the end. All in all, this was mostly just a passerby district, the next few down probably had more variety such as a blacksmith, brothel, or fireworks seller, there was honestly no telling.

Before he could think of anything else, he heard Elly and when he looked, noticed she was losing her balance. Out of reflex while she was falling, Kaimu immediately moved for her, managing to wrap his arm around her waist just in time, though he had been pulled halfway off himself due to his timing.

With a huff, Kaimu pulled back, pulling Elly up with him; setting her down once they were safely back on the roof. "Whew, you okay, Elly-tan?"

Elly continued to flail her arms, not entirely aware that she wasn't still falling. When she did, her arms more slowed to a halt then anything, as she slowly opened one eye then the other. "Uh..." She blinked a few times, rendered just a little speechless, before she was pulled up and sat down. "Um..." Her face turned just the faintest hint of red before she suddenly cleared her throat. "Thank you! I uh... I don't think that would have killed me but it um.. It wouldn't have felt great!" She laughed and scratched her head a little. "So um... yeah.. I uh.. I could eat! Yes. Eat. Let's go get food! Lunch even!" She hopped up again, this time carefully eyeing the ledge and taking a step away from it.

"No problem." Kaimu replied after Elly was finished speaking, "Alright, food. I'll lead the way then."

Giving a bright smile, he moved from his spot to lead the way to the place where they could eat. Kaimu figured he'd have some soup with some dumplings, since Hibiya's could make both rather well for an establishment in this location.

Now that she wasn't FALLING off, Elly took the opportunity to hop off the edge of the roof, waiting for Kaimu to get down whichever way he decided to. "After you," she said to him once he did. She walked along side him, occasionally swinging her arms behind her back. She leaned forward, looking over at him. "So! I.. don't suppose you'd be willing to pay for me? Given my... situation, I don't have any Rukon money... heh... hehe....'' her face sunk from a grimace. "Sorry... If you don't still want to go, I wouldn't blame you.." she sighed.

"I should have enough." Kaimu replied after leaving the rooftop with Elly. "I work odd jobs sometimes during the days when I'm wandering through districts. So I should have enough for the two of us."

The last few jobs he'd worked were more or less errands rather than jobs, but he'd still earned a small bit. Hibiya's wasn't very expensive to begin with since most people couldn't afford expensive meals in the first place and Hibiya wasn't money-hungry like some people with businesses were.

She couldn't help but grin. "Well! Aren't you a gentleman!" She said with a wink, falling into one of her steps to bump into him sideways before catching her footing. "We Arrancar don't really have an economic system. Though I guess it would be neat... but what would we buy? Whatever we want, we mostly just go steal from the Human World... " She sighed. "It's hard worrying about legal consequences when you're a phantasm..." She gave a shrug. "So, Mr. Gentleman. What would you recommend for a nice girl such as myself to get at this restaurant we're going to?"

Kaimu smiled back at her, "Well I was thinking of getting soup and some dumplings. At Hibiya's both are made rather well but they do have other things like takoyaki, tempura, udon, and the stuff like that. They keep their prices pretty affordable too."

He hadn't been to the Human World in a long time, he wondered how much had changed and the costs of things of the modern time there. It was a nice little trip last time he'd been, even if he had been on a job at the time.

Elly nodded as he continued talking to her about the various foods they had available. Wow. It sounded like a lot of... um... food.. that... "Uh... Okay, I've.. never eaten Japanese food." She squeezed her eyes shut and looked down in shame. "I always MEANT to... but... I guess I never had the nerve? A lot of it is raw fish and it SOUNDS gross..." she looked up with an embarrassed expression. "Um.. I'm willing to take your recommendation though?"

Kaimu chuckled slightly, "I guess I'm just used to fish dishes because I grew up with them. They were easy for me to catch so they were a good meal to have. There's more than just fish though, perhaps you'd like some of the noodle dishes? Udon is always good, there's a lot to eat most of the time but it's good."

"Hmm... I... didn't even know Udon wasn't fish." She said, her face turning just the slightest shade of red. "I mean, I've been to Japan maybe once or twice on Arrancar duty, so I didn't have time to stay or check it out or anything..." She politely slipped her arms behind her back as they walked. "And it SOUNDS like you're offering to buy me a bit of everything on the menu. That would make you my new favorite person." She looked up at him, pouting cutely. "You ARE offering to be my new favorite person, right?"

"Well I can buy what I can afford, Hibiya's isn't that expensive so I guess I could afford more."

He had about enough to take four people out, himself included, after having saved for awhile. He wasn't really all that bad with his money, he liked to splurge and spend it on more than just himself every now and then.

"Well..." She reached over and gave him a playful little punch in the side. "We'll see if you have enough for us to become bestest friends then." She said with a little smirk. "So... wait, I'm confused. Is this place in Rukon or in the human world?" She looked quizzical about the matter. "These worlds blend together sometimes.." She said with a silly laugh.

"It's here. I haven't been to the the world of the living in a long time. I wonder how much has changed, its probably been about...a few hundred years since I was last there." Kaimu mused. "It's not much farther, just up ahead." He smiled.

She suddenly stopped, turning to look at him with a gasp. "You.. haven't been there in HOW long?" Her face was in total shock. Hundreds of years? She clasped her fists to her chest and scrunched her face up. After a second she just started... hopping up and down before she ran in a circle around him shouting. "DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING? ELECTRICITY, THE INTERNET, COFFEE, TV, MOVIES, THE INTERNET, CELL PHONES, PROCESSED FOOD, AIRPLANES, SPACESHIPS, TELEPORTERS, PRINTED BOOKS, N-SYNC, LOST!" She threw her hands up, getting way too excited about this. "Come on! Forget noodles, we have to go! We have to go teach you several hundred years of culture RIGHT NOW!" She demanded, grabbing his arm and tugging at him.

"Eehh, seems like I'm missing out on a lot then." That was...a lot, he didn't know exactly what those things were but they seemed rather important. It was then that Elly grabbed his arm, "Wha- Go where?" He questioned? The Human World? Just how would he go about getting there if that was in fact where she wanted to go?

"Oh you are missing out on SOOO much. They even have sushi or whatever-the-heck you wanted to eat so we can get that there too." She said, hopping up and down and still tugging on his arm. "Now let's go while nobody is looking." She said before turning and reaching out with her other hand. She plunged it into the air and pulled down, a black split forming. Of course, she'd opened a garganta. "In in in. I will be in SO much trouble if someone sees us using one of these things." She said, tugging for him to follow her.