A trip to the Slums (Shin Kinsen)

Ezrachek woke in the morning feeling the strength in his body and he stretched out his still sleepy muscles. He rose to his feet, legs still wobly from the sleep, and walked to his dresser. He got dressed, and tied Ansatsu Oji to his waist. He grabbed a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with a match from a book that he had laying on the dresser. He walked towards his Thatched Bamboo sliding door and moved it to the side. He took two steps outside, sliding the door behind him. He turned to his right to see a small female, no more than 4'7" in height, running full speed towards him. He figured that she must be late for a seminar or training or something, and walked towards her, with all intentions of passing her by. He was startled when he took his step to pass her and felt the small hand tug on his sleeve. He turned towards her, surprised by the bother. "Yes, how may I help you? are you lost?" She looked up with beautiful blue eyes, and blonde hair.

Spoiler:

"Yes! I need your help! You're 12 seat Ezrachek Rayone right? You must be! I was told that you could help me! My family is in the Rukongai, and they have sent word that there are bandits there and they are stealing all the food and supplies that are sent to their district. My family's very poor and they can't afford to pay you, but I wish to offer any help that I can if you will help them. Please mister!" The girl pleaded as tears started to well up in her eyes, finally they overflowed and started streaming down her cheeks. Ezrachek couldn't stand to see a little girl cry; it made him uncomfortable.

"Alright alright I'll do it. Just please stop crying, and one more thing, don't call me mister. The name's Ezra. Now where are these bandits, I'll go take care of em, and you wait for me by the Seireitei gate. I'll be back before ya know it!" He said with a smile on his face, an attempt to cheer the small girl up. She wiped away the tears and told him about the district and where it was. Ezrachek placed his hand on her head and nodded his. A confident gesture as if to say that she had nothing to worry. She went with him to the gate of the Seireitei that led to her district, having to run along side him to keep up with his long strides. After a few short moments, which felt like an eternity to the little girl, they reached the gates. She bent over, placing her hands on her knees, panting and trying to catch her breath. Ezrachek squatted down to her level, telling her once again the plan. With a nod, he commanded the guardian to open the gate, and he stepped through, it closing slowly behind him. Just before he was out of sight, he looked beneath the closing gate door, and gave a thumbs up to her.

Dust rolled up from the dirt filled floor as the door came sliding down to a shut. Ezrachek took that as his cue to start off on his journey. He had a few districts to travel through and it would easily take him through the night. He took off, running, gaining speed with each footstep. After a few seconds, he reached his full pace, not maxing himself out, but not pacing himself too slow either. He made his way through the forest that separated the Seireitei to the closest district, pushing off of each tree limb as he propelled himself forward with each stride. He broke through the edge of the forest to see the first district of Rukongai. The streets were busy and crowded as each of the citizens went on through their day. Not too much to be excited about, just people being people, Ezrachek thought as he took to the rooftops. It proved to be a faster path than trying to maneuver through the streets. Ezrachek went on with his travels, passing through one district after the other, until finally coming upon the Ninth district. This was his target location.

He stopped at the entrance of the district, looking around for any sort of signs or landmarks. He noticed one sign handing on a post outside of a large building that had been marked over with words like "Get out" and "This is our town." Ezrachek walked closer to the sign, and decided to attempt to read the original writing. It was an inn, and that pleased Ezrachek. He walked in to find the manager trembling on the floor. Ezrachek gave him a questioning look as the manager pointed. There was a bandit holding two daggers standing in the corner of the room looking towards the manager very angrily. "You gave me away! you will die!" The bandit said as he charged towards the manager. Ezrachek had to act quickly. He unsheathed his sword as he pounced towards the manager. He came in between the two just in time. The Bandit brought his two daggers down in a stabbing downward motion as Ezrachek shoved his sword forward, piercing from jugular, up through the back of the skull. The bandit stopped in his tracks and fell dead to the floor. The blood poured from his face and the room was dead silent until the blood flowed and touched the managers hand. He made a feint noise looking up towards Ezrachek for answers. Ezrachek just placed a single finger to his lips as he made the "shh" noise. He motioned for the man to stand to his feet. He then requested a room to stay in for the night and in return, Ezrachek would rid the district of these men. The manage happily agreed and gave Ezrachek the key. Ezrachek warned the manager to lock up the inn and Ezrachek would deal with them tomorrow. After he watched the manager lock the doors, he retired to his room. Ezrachek found that the room was smaller than his dorm room, but he could adapt. He looked at the dresser. Must have been some relatively cheap wood. Not like his polished Mahogany dresser back in his dorm. He also didn't have the katana stand with him. Ezrachek decided to ignore the dresser. He turned his attention to the bed, it was smaller than his bed, but it did appear to be softer than his bed. It was low to the ground, which would mean that if need be, Ezrachek could rise from the bed faster. Ezrachek placed Ansatsu Oji underneath the pillow as he laid down. He folded his hands back behind his head, one clinching on the hilt of the blade, one clinching on the sheath, however it would appear that he was just relaxing in the bed. Ezrachek allowed his mind to drift into unconsciousness, and into the world of dreams. He didn't dream of much, and he wasn't sure if it was just the things that were on his mind, or if it was because of his physical contact with his zanpakuto, but he dreamt of the world of Ansatsu Oji, and how horrifying it was. He then dreamt of Ansatsu Oji. Cold. Emotionless. Constantly only calling for blood. These were the dreams that haunted Ezrachek as he slept.

---

Ezrachek awoke with a start as he heard a hissing whisper wracking inside his head. You weakling! Give me what I demand! Blood! That weak fool from last night wasn't good enough! I want more!" Ezrachek pulled Ansatsu from behind his head, and looked at it. Shut up! Don't worry. You'll get enough today! Baka!*" Ezrachek called out at his zanpakuto, annoyed by it's constant begging. Ezrachek rose from the bed and did his normal routine for getting ready for the day, without the smoking. Ever since his mission with Kuro, he refused to smoke during a mission. It made him jumpy and paranoid for some reason. He moved from his room back downstairs into the lobby. He looked at the manager and gave him a thumbs up with a smile. The manager laughed nervously as he stumbled towards the door, unlocking it. Ezrachek thanked him and opened the door, walking onto the streets outside. It was time to do some investigating, but where to start. Ezrachek turned towards the center of the district when he felt a reiatsu that was particularly strong for the area. He decided to start moving that way.

(OOC: *Translation: Baka is Japanese for idiot)

Shin opened his eyes and looked around into the room he was in, it hadn't changed, then again he hadn't expected it to, the walls were white and he was on a soft bed, there was a window at the end with metal bars on it and the door was locked from the other side, and was far too strong for him to break down. His hand reached up to his head and felt at the bandage there, he winced as the pain spiked through his head. It was supposed to have been a simple delivery job, just deliver the schedule for future deliveries, but instead it had gone horribly wrong.

Shin walked into the 8th district, he was supposed to deliver a delivery schedule to the people around here, apparently there was a noble around here who watched over all of it and he was just supposed to take it there. It hadn't been much of a problem to find the place, after all it was the largest building in the district, it even had walls, it was a mansion. As he walked up to the entrance, he thought it odd to not have any guards around for such a huge house, usually they had at least a few, but he assumed they would just be inside the house then. He walked up to the front doors and knocked, but noone answered and so shin looked around and spotted an intercom on the wall so he pushed the button and said, "Hello, I have a delivery." and there was no answer, shin was starting to get a little creeped out. Then the intercom replied, "We'll open the doors for you." So shin had waited, then the doors creaked open, shin noticed that they were really thick doors. Just inside there was a slender man standing in the room just beyond the man said, "I'll take the schedule." and extended his hand. But shin hadn't said anything about the schedule, but then again they were expecting that, but there was still something off about the man so shin said, "I was told to deliver it to the owner of the house himself." The man stared at shin for a few moments and went, "Tch." and then the doors closed. There were 2 rugged looking men there who bolted the door shut with a loud click. Shin looked around in a panic and dashed towards one of the doors to the side, but right as he reached out to open it, the door opened and a Vicious looking man walked oiut and shut the door behind him, and said ,"Hey Kid." Shin quickly backed off and looked at the men around the room, there was one more door to the side he could make it to. The slender man said, "Just give us the schedule kid and nothing bad has to happen." The new man added in, "Resist and we'll cut you apart." Shin was in full blown panic mode and dashed towards the last door, however one of the men who shut the entrance predicted as much and grabbed his arm as his hand grabbed onto the doorknob and lifted shin into the air. Shin in his panic pulled out his knife and quickly slashed across the man's eyes, slicing one of them, the man screamed and dropped shin. Shin grabbed the doorknob and started to pull the door open when the Vicious man was there and he slammed the door shut with one hand and said, "nope" and kicked shin, hard. Shin's knife went flying out of his hand as he tumbled across the floor and slammed into the opposing wall his head slamming into it hard and sending him into a light daze. The vicious man walked over and said, "shoulda gave it up nicely boy, now you need to die." and picked up shin by the throat and started to choke him. Then there was a slam off in the distance and a woman rushed in with blade in hand and glanced around before blaring at the man choking shin and said, "What are you doing" to which he replied, "Killing the messenger" she said, "Let him go, we do not kill children." the man holding shin stared at her for a moment before sarcastically remarking, "As her Majesty wishes." and released shin, who fell onto the floor coughing. Then she said, "Bring me the schedule and throw the boy in a locked room." and left. The slender man walked over to shin, who was barely conscious and rapped shin on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

Ezrachek moved through the city at a slow and calm pace, careful not to attract any more attention than he was already gaining wearing his uniform. He noticed that a lot of the people here were tense, almost expecting trouble to break out, and despite the actions of the previous night, there seemed to be no bad guys running a muck in the streets. Ezrachek assumed that it was only because a shinigami was running around in their district and that they would just wait until he left. Ezrachek walked up to a shop that was selling drinks on the corner of a street. He walked up to a man who appeared to be running the store. Ezrachek questioned him about bandits, but the man acted like nothing was wrong. He was lying and it was obvious. Ezrachek was losing his patience at this point and left the store. He didn't have a lead and once again, he was in an unfamiliar area. He looked down the street, seeing the Noble's house, being that it was the biggest house in the district. He walked up the tall doors, which appeared to be regular doors, but after a few solid knocks on the door, Ezrachek could tell that they were reinforced doors. He wondered why the noble would have the need for the reinforced doors, but was caught off by another thought. No one had answered the door yet. Ezrachek noticed an intercom next to the door and decided to give it a try. "Hello? This is Ezrachek Rayone. Is the noble househead around?" He said, careful not to give away his rank and seat position, as it would give information to any possible threats. Ezrachek looked around the streets nearby as he waited for a reply.

Shin woke this morning and glanced around, still a prisoner so he did what little he could to train, went through some basic stretches and forms while he waited for his breakfast, which never came. A few hours later there was a click as the door opened and the Lady he had seen when he first came walked into the room and shut the door behind herself. She stared at him for a moment then said, "You are no longer a prisoner, you are free to go." Shin was puzzled, why imprison him for so long, then just let him go? Had something changed? "However, it would be unwise to leave the mansion."

Shin stared and was even more puzzled by this than before, "Why? What happened?" He said cautiously.
She stared at him for a moment with those intense eyes, "There was... an altercation with those I hired to reclaim what was mine. They are outside, we inside. I assume they will assume you would be on my side, and besides, they have more reason than anyone else to not let people know what is happening here."
Shin was still confused about what was going on, but he understood well enough that it was not safe outside. The woman motioned for him to follow and she guided him though the hall to a dining table where lunch was set for 3, her, him, and the thin man he had met at the entrance before. It was a rather inelegant lunch, some form of soup, made odd for the fact that noone was speaking.

Suddenly there was a voice over the intercom, "Hello? This is Ezrachek Rayone. Is the noble househead around?" The man and the woman looked sharply at each other and the man nodded and started walking towards the entrance, apparently to find out what was going on, and maybe if he deemed it safe, let the man inside.


A few men in an alleyway watched Ezra's cautious approach to the mansion, then passed a message back and a few moments later as Ezra approached the mansion door got a message back, he nodded and came out of the alleyway a bit. Ezra had reached the door and knocked, The man looked around for anyone and made a loud PSSSST noise, after a moment of watching ezra touch the intercom he realized that he hadn't head him so he said "Hey!" repeating it louder until the man heard, then making a rapid, "Come over here" motion.

Ezrachek looked to his side, not moving his head. He had sensed the men standing in the alley. Ezrachek ignored them as he stood at the door. He began to impatiently tap his foot on the floor when he heard the man shout out. He quickly turned his head, darting his eyes at the man, staring through with eyes like daggers. So it would appear that way. Ezrachek was actually getting a closer look at just what kind of men he was potentially going up against. He could tell that they were in numbers, no more than 5 or 6 that he could see, and seemed to be rather weak. However, after his mission in the real world with the lunatics of Kippei's group, Ezrachek wasn't going to take any chance. He turned his entire body towards the man. He raised up his hand in a notion of peace. Ezrachek, in his pre-mission pack up, had stashed a belt around his chest, with daggers along his back, left shoulder and across his chest for a more ranged advantage. He moved closer to the men, slowly moving his hand backwards towards his head. He stopped his movements as he placed his right foot on the ledge of the staircase leading to the mansion. His hands were a 3 inches from his head, and only a split second away from an attack.

"Look. You don't seem like the kind of guy who wants any trouble, and neither do I. I'm kinda busy. Leave, please." Ezrachek said with just the slightest hint of hostility in his voice. Just enough for the man to get the hint that Ezrachek would rather not be messed with at the current moment. Ezrachek slightly moved his left hand closer to the daggers, not moving his hand more than an inch closer. Ezrachek saw his battle as a chest match. He waited for the next move, whether it be an attack, or him getting into this mansion.