A New Face (Tao)

The sun was strong on this summer day, the heat was almost unbearable, the gentle breeze that occasionally rolled past was the only relief from the punishing heat from the sun, midday was vastly approaching, most of the residence of Rukongai took refuge inside there so called houses, Bishamon couldn't really call them houses, as they were just run down shacks, only staying up due to them leaning on each other.

Bishamon whipped the sweat from his forehead; him and the other shinigami present where ordered to simply do a routine patrol of this district, Bishamon didn't mind it so much, he like the occasional stroll around Rukongai, fortunately this was one of the safer districts which meant a fairly relaxing patrol, however it escaped him why they wanted two shinigami's doing such a simple task, but it was going to be awkward if one of them didn't say something so Bishamon decided to end the awkward silence.

He gave a nod to the shinigami accompanying him "My name is Bishamon Saitou, pleasure to meet you, you can call me Bisha or Sai or whatever you want, it doesn't bother me much."He gave her a smile "let's walk and talk shall we?" They continued to walk, the breeze hit Bishamon, what a wonderful sensation it was, but it only lasted for a mear moment, he once again whipped the sweat from his forehead as he waited for the female shinigami to reply.

She didn't know why she was there, at least that was what the girl wanted to believe. She knew her orders, she knew exactly why she was in that particular spot at the moment, but the thought of patrolling one of the higher sections of the Rukongai sounded a bit ridiculous to her. To have them patrol the area with a partner attached to their side only made the notion sound like even more of a joke. It wasn't as though hollow attacks were prominent in this area; in this specific district, the last known hollow siting was years ago. What the districts battled now was poverty and common criminals. A bandit appearing ever now and then wouldn't be a surprise to anyone, waking and finding your home ransacked for its pitiful worth was also something that seemed to be expected. 'But those are mainly the lower districts. . . For the most part, this one has everything going for them. Nothing would be considered decent, but still better than most.'

Her eyes glanced up at the boy accompanying her when she heard him introduce himself. 'Bishamon Saitou? What a strange name. From the way the boy talked and held himself, she doubted he had been a full-fledged Shinigami for long. But at the same time, she couldn't recall seeing hm at the Academy.

"People call me Tao. It's a pleasure to meet you too Mr. Saitou." A small smile lit her face as she followed him. They would probably be spending the better part of the day doing such a mundane task, so why not try to at least start it off on a good foot? "Have you been a Shinigami long? No emotions showed in her voice as she followed him. Looking up at the boy? She noticed how much he seemed to be perspiring, noting that it was indeed hot outside, but it didn't feel that uncomfortable to her. Rummaging through her robes for a moment, Ailin pulled out a handkerchief, offering it to the boy.

They both continued walking down the centre of the walkway; Bishamon didn't expect too run into any sort of trouble, but he did keep an eye out, the worst he was expecting was just too see a common thief or maybe a small brawl of sorts, but no such luck it was quiet, the souls where just minding their own business, whether it was staying in their homes, or begging on the side of the street. Bishamon did have pity for them, after all he was a residence of Rukongai in a district similar to this for a while, but that was neither here nor there.

He realised that he had kept Tao waiting on an answer, well at least she seems nice, Bishamon rubbed the back of his head "hmmm, well that's a tough one, i don't really keep track...but if i had to make a guess, i would probably say, about five or six months, so not long really" he replied in his lax voice. He let the breeze hit him once again, and soaked in the silence for a moment.

Well there's no point in staying silent, he looked over to Tao once again, and realised the handkerchief she was offering him "my my, is it really that obvious, heh, thanks" He took the handkerchief, and whipped the droplets of sweat from his forehead, "how about yourself? I haven't seen you around much, so what's your story" he asked, as he put the handkerchief in his pocket.

Small talk. That was the only way to describe what they were doing and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not. She knew that they weren't the only people assigned to do this task, but knowing that there were other Shinigami out there, doing the exact same thing she was didn't make her feel any better. They could be training, thwy could be praciticing kido, they could be doing anything else and she would probably find it more useful, if not more amusing. But no, instead they were assigned to patrol, they had them intermingling with other squads, acting as though there weren't hollows out there.

'Five or six months?' The girl blinked a few times when she heard that the boy had been a Shinigami for such a short period of time. She had thought that maybe he had been one for a year or maybe two. Not long, but long enough for her to have a reason to not recognize him. With such a small difference in time, she should've remembered seeing his face around campus, there was even a possibility that they had shared a class together. With how unusual she thought his name sounded, she should've remembered something about him, but nothing was coming to mind. 'I guess that shouldn't surprise me. It's not like this is the first time I've met someone I should know and have no idea who they are.' She thought, knowing that she was the type to meet someone a few times before actually remembering where she knew him or her. The people she met would leave faint traces, a footprint at the very most in her mind; but knowing that they've met and knowing who a person is were two completely different things.

What was there to say? She could go into detail about her extremely boring life, but she didn't see the point in doing that. "I don't really have a story worth telling. Just another girl who happened to make it through graduation a couple weeks ago and was lucky enough to get accepted into a squad." Saying the words with a shrug of her shoulders, Ailin looked at the surrounding buildings; noting how different it was from the one she used to call home. The fact that the buildings were still standing and citizens still lived there being the most prominent. "And you? What's your story?" A bit of interest could be heard in her voice. She wasn't happy with what they were doing, thought it was pointless, thought the people who gave her the assignment were crazy, but even if she didn't like it, it was still her assignment to complete. Looking at the boy, she wondered if he was as irritated with it as she was or if he saw this as a break of some sort. Being a Shinigami as lonlg as he had, he had more of a reason to dislike the task than she did.

The sweat began to form on his forehead once again; it felt as though the heat was only increasing, he put his hand over his eyes, so to cap them from the blinding light of the sun. He was hoping to see clouds coming in from the distance to give welcoming cover from the sun, but no such luck, maybe i should get a hat, but his trail of thought was once again interrupted by Tao, he let out a loud yawn, he didn't mean to make it so loud, and he didn't mean for it to imply he was bored; even though he was, he was simply tired, or lazy in his case, and the heat always made him that much more lazier.

After listening to the girls reply, he could tell that she wasn't much of a talker, only a few words for a very vague question confirmed that, this wasn't good, Bishamon and Tao both didn't want to be socialising but it was the only thing to do on the tedious task, "well, my story, let me think. I don't really have one, i graduated the academy, i have done a few routine patrols, nothing more nothing less."

This conversation was getting as boring as the patrol, he couldn't spend the day having awkward small talk with this girl, he eyed up a bar on the corner of the street. "Well it doesn't look like anything is going to happen today, and i can't stand this heat, so i think we have deserved a break, fancy having a drink? It's on me" He headed towards the bar without really waiting for an answer.

She stared up at him as she heard his response to the question she had ricocheted back in his direction, his answer being just as vague and boring as hers had been. In all honesty, she would've been completely fine with just walking in silence if that was how their conversation was going to go. If he didn't want to talk to her, he really didn't have to force himself. Turning her head, she thought about explaining it to him, but instead she heard him say something about a drink, automatically turning to head for a bar at the side of the street. 'Drinking on the job? Really?' She rolled her eyes as she followed after him; they were supposed to stay together, the Sould Society didn't just want individual soldiers. Following him into the bar, she had every intention of getting him to change his mind and return to their patrol, but before she could catch him a man stepped in her way.

"Hold on there little girl. This isn't the place for babies such as yourself, why don't you go find your way back to the nursery." A semi-irritated look appeared on the girl's face as she watched the man smirk, lifting one of his arms as if to block her path. She could hear a mixture of gasps and snickers cross through the onlookers, could smell the alcohol on his breath. Was this man serious about judging her age based solely upon her looks? "Everyone in the Soul Society knows that how old a person looks has nothing to do with how old they really are." Her eyes glared at the man who tried to block her entrance, her hand reaching to grab his wrist to move it out of her way. The man was bigger than she by a lot but even so it was obvious that he would stand no chance against her in a fight even he weren't intoxicated.

A part of the girl wanted the man to try and remove her from the bar, or even throw a punch in her direction. Then she would have a decent enough reason to hit him back. Just one hit, that was all she wanted, but even that had the possibility if getting her in trouble. She wasn't supposed to be there and attacking someone who could barely stand would be frowned upon. Perhaps she could simply avoid his punch and he could fall over, injuring himself without any help from her.

It was clear that the girl didn't want to be in here, however her mind might change after a few drinks, he wasn't sure whether or not she didn't want to be in here due to her not being a fan of places such as this, or because she might get in trouble, but Bishamon slacked of his duties all the time, so the concept of getting in trouble didn't bother him so much, he had only been caught a few times, and it was only a slap on the wrist.

Bishamon turned to ensure his partner was following him, but he saw a rather large man blocking his path, it was obvious that he was drunk, but it wasn't a rarity seeing the people of Rukongai confronting shinigami's; there were a lot of shinigami's that had fun picking on these people, so they didn't have the best reputation around these parts. He could tell where this was going, and quickly intervened, he lightly placed his hand on the man's shoulder, and in a relaxed voice stated the truth of the matter "i think you should listen to her, she could easily kill you, if she wanted" he awaited for the mans response, however negotiating with a drunk man, was like talking to a brick wall, most of the time, and this seemed like one of them times, Bishamon let out a sigh, "how about you let us have our peace and then i might buy you a drink" something a drunk man couldn't resisted, he grunted and walked back to his seat.

Bishamon smiled at Tao, "right then, shall we?"He then walked over to the bar, and picked up a bottle of sake, and some drinking plates and two cups, and took a seat at an empty table, away from the crowd of people at the other side of the room. He then poured the sake, and waved the girl over. He purposely poured the drink out without asking, in hoped that the girl would have to drink.