Visiting the old Folks (Solo) [WIP]

Draylon was getting ready for another trip into the Rukongai to visit the pair of medicine makers that had helped him in his early days in the Rukongai. Dressed in his normal clothes and packing only a few essentials, he only planned to be there for the day after all, he started to leave. As he left he heard someone call out from behind him, “Hey Dray, where are you going?” Dray turned around and saw a friend he had met during his time at the academy; they had both ended up joining 12th division.

“I am headed out to go see the folks again, it is my day off after all.” Dray said as he walked off. The man smiled and called out after him “Maybe next time you can help me with my invention. Say Hi to them for me” Dray turned around and waved and said, “I will, see you later.”


Draylon looked around the vendors in the street. Stopping here and there looking around at anything interesting, a few trinkets caught his eye as he looked around, one in particular. It was a necklace in silver, and it had a small dragon curled around a blue crystal as its centerpiece.

Taking it down to look at it closer, he examined it and called over the shopkeeper. “Excuse me? How much is this?” Draylon held up the necklace so the shopkeeper could see. The Shopkeeper glanced over at the necklace then looked Draylon up and down and said, “200.” Dray looked at the man and said, “No way is that worth 200, I say 40 at Best,” The shopkeeper said, “Look at that craftsmanship on that, gotta be at least worth 150!” Draylon shook his head and said, “The craftsmanship isn’t even that good, I say 80 tops.” The shopkeeper glared at Draylon and said, “120, my final offer, take it or leave it.” Dray set it down and started to walk away, the shopkeeper growled and said, “Alright 105!” Draylon turned around and said, “I’ll take it, 105 it is.” Draylon paid the man and put the necklace in his pocket, it would make a good surprise gift for someone, he just didn’t know who yet.

As Draylon continued down the street he heard a commotion from up ahead, a few seconds later a boy came into view, a pork bun in his mouth and one in each hand, a few seconds after that he saw a large man in fast pursuit, gaining on the boy the man yelled, “STOP THAT KID!” As the boy approached him, Draylon smiled at him, the kid tried to run past and Dray picked him up by the back of his neck and lifted him into the air. The kid struggled in his grip but he didn’t let go. The man caught up and Dray said, “How much are the pork buns?” The man looked at Draylon and said, “They cost 4 a piece, why?” Dray counted out 12 coins and gave them to the man and said, “I am paying for him, that’s why.” The kid stopped struggling and looked at Draylon, confused.

The man took the money looked at Draylon then the kid and said, “Well thanks, I guess.” He then looked at the kid and said, “If I ever catch you stealing from me again I will cut off your hands, Boy!” Then stormed off.

Dray set the kid down and said, “Don’t worry about him, I’ll take you to a place where you won’t have to ever worry about going hungry again. Would you like that?” Dray looked over the kid, ragged clothes and a dirty appearance, and he looked to be about eight or nine. The saddest part about this is it isn’t that unusual.

The boy looked up at Draylon suspiciously and nodded, eating the pork bun voraciously. Draylon smiled and said, “Well it will be a little bit of a walk, you see the place we are going is in district 43, but I know a couple that would be willing to give you shelter and feed you. Come on, let’s go.” The boy followed behind Draylon as he started walking off towards the place he had once called home.

Draylon looked over at the kid who he had picked up. He seemed to be fidgeting a lot and glancing at Dray quite a bit. Eventually Dray just said, “What is your name kid? I’m Draylon Kerosu”

The kid stopped fidgeting and said, “My name is Rikas. Hey mister, are you a shinigami? You are carrying a sword, usually only shinigami carry swords. Are you really taking me to a place where I can eat and have a home like you said?” The kid seemed to fidget around a bit more.

Draylon laughed and said, “Yes I am a shinigami. This is a zanpakuto.” Dray tapped the handle of his sword. “Also yes, I am taking you to an old couple who run a medicine shop in district 43, they feel for the kids that have to live on the street and take them in. They also clothe them, feed them, and give them shelter and a home. All they ask for in return is that you help out a little bit with their shop. By the way kid…. Do you like dragons?”

The kid looked up at Draylon and Said, “I don’t really wanna work but it will be better than steal’in n stuff. What’s a dragon?”

Dray was taken aback, of course it made sense that the kid wouldn’t know what a dragon was, after all he had been raised on the streets. That would all change once they got where they were going, he would get some sort of education at least. Draylon fished around in his pocket a bit and pulled out the dragon necklace he had bought earlier, “I expected to be holding on to this a bit more, but I feel like you should have it.” Draylon put the necklace on the boy and said, “That creature holding the orb is a miniature carved dragon, they are supposedly powerful and intelligent beings, the greatest of all.”

The boy took a long hard look at the creature on his necklace as they walked along, then let it hand with a smirk. Then said, “I didn’t used to have to steal and stuff, until last year my big brother took care of me. But, then he got… killed by a hollow… I didn’t know what to do, and I ended up stealing stuff…” The boy looked at his shoes.

Draylon said, “You will never have to steal again, that I can promise you. I am sorry to hear about your brother though. What was he like?” Draylon looked at the boy with a friendly smile on his face.

The boy looked away from draylon and said, “Don’t wanna talk about it." They walked on in silence for a few minutes until the boy said, "Say what does the released form of your sword look like? I heard all of them are unique! I wanna see!”

Dray looked at the boy and laughed and said, “While it is true that all zanpakuto’s have a released form, I am not yet powerful enough to release it, you see, you need to form a connection with it, a zanpakuto is an extension of yourself , a part of who you are, a part of your soul. It isn’t easy to understand.”

The kid remained quiet for quite some time, pondering. Long enough in fact, that they arrived at the medicine shop that Draylon was taking the boy to. Draylon pointed over at the shop and the relatively large house behind it and said, “We are here.”