A good day for the Unexpected (Belle)

James sat outside of his dojo his hands in his pocket as he looked up and down the street that had become his home away from home; the sun was already passed its zenith and the shadows had started to elongate once more. It is a rather nice day to be outside, the birds are singing kids are playing in the street and the people are just giving off a dull roar of friendly conversation. A smile crossed his lips as he let out a content sigh, not one person on this street knew his secret, but they all knew he had something to do with the low crime rate in this shady area of the city. So even though they barely knew him they all smiled and waved as they passed, some of the children tried to even get him to come and play with them, but James would just smile and shake his head declining.

“So the mysterious master does leave his dojo for more than just coffee after all?” A young woman teased standing at the foot of his stoop. She was older than most the children 16 or 17; old enough to be considered an adult by humans, but in his eyes she was still a child.

“Well I could barely pass up the opportunity to get out on such a beautiful day, how have you been, Hannah?” James smiled warmly, enjoying the conversation and the feel of the sun on his skin. It reminded him of when he was young and would lay on the shore of a beach letting the sun sparkle off his bright red scales.

“I'm good I was just going to let you know that tomorrow at the coffee shop we are having a poetry reading if you want to come. Anyway I gotta get back to work have a good day.” Hannah turned and left heading back down towards the coffee shop.


“I'll consider it if I am not too busy.” James called and then laid back against his steps once again as he closed his eyes and just listened for anything unexpected.

Steady breaths could be heard as her legs carried her along the sidewalk, the sound of her favorite songs playing in her ears from the iPod strapped to her arm. She always felt a bit strange in this part of town... Almost similar to how she felt when one of her monsters were around, but completely different at the same time. Despite the fact that the district was known to be on the "lower" side of the city... She felt safe here, though she would never tell her parents what she was doing when she was supposed to be talking to Trammell. They'd probably flip. A small snicker could be heard as the girl took a corner, dodging other pedestrians along her way. She wasn't one to go against her parent's wishes, but she wasn't one that would jump when they told her to jump either. She wasn't a child anymore and while they claimed to only want what was best for her... She couldn't help but feel as though their efforts were in vain.

They were trying to remove the crazy, but she didn't have the nerve to tell them it wasn't working. Medication or not, the monsters were real... As real as anything else in her world.

As far as cities went, Karakura was probably one of the bigger ones she had lived in. Her parents were keen on keeping the family close together, but word travels fast in small towns... One inkling of something amiss and people would practically kill for the entire story. They had practically killed for my story. It was a distant thought in the back of the girl's mind and while she used to try to convince herself that it would never happen again, she knew better now. Slowing down, the girl ducked into a small coffee shop as she pulled the earbuds out of her ears long enough to order a drink. "One medium iced passion tea. Sweetened." It only took a few minutes for the drink to be made, but the air conditioning of the place felt good and she dawdled a moment while sipping on her lightly caffeinated beverage.

Walking outside the shop, the girl's eyes looked up towards the blue sky and a small smile lit her face. Three days. 72 hours. That's how long her peace had lasted. Two weeks ago, she would've been considered a mess. She smiled and she pretended that nothing was wrong for her parent's sake, but her therapist knew better. Taking another sip from the dark pink drink in her hand, she started walking down the sidewalk, looking through the windows of the small shops that lined the street.

Antique stores... Book shops... Mom and Pop shops... If she had known better she would probably think that she wasn't even in Japan, but the Kanji on some of the signs told her otherwise.

Leaning forward for a moment, the girl looked at a pendant through the window of an antique jewelry shop. Her mother's birthday was coming up shortly and while their family didn't make big celebrations out of something as pointless as another year of life... A nice dinner, a card, maybe a cake, but nothing too extravagant. Standing up, the girl took a step back from the window, but nearly tripped on a girl behind her. "Sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention." The chime of the girl's laugh could be heard as she tried to regain her composure. "Don't worry about it. No harm done." She could hear the other girl laugh and relief could be seen in her delicate features. Watching as the girl started walking away, she turned her head back to the window, but the girl's voice caught her attention again.

"Hey... That coffee shop you got that drink from is having a poetry reading tomorrow night. You should come by and see some of the local talent." Blinking a few times, Isabelle watched as the girl pointed at the cup in her hand before taking off in the direction of the coffee shop. She had no intentions of going to a poetry reading, but it seemed like the girl was just trying to get the word out. Turning back to the window, the reflection of a building caught her attention and she turned to look at the structure, before falling on the man sitting, maybe sleeping, on the steps in front of it.

Looking both ways, the girl crossed the street, her tennis shoes barely making any noise on the pavement. She had been considering leaning how to fight for some time now... Well, considering it ever since that night the masked man had saved her life. Fight or run. Those were the choices and while she had chosen the first option, she had been doing a lot of running lately... A lot of freezing. "Excuse me?" Curiosity could be heard in her voice as she looked at what seemed to be a sleeping man. Pulling the iPod from her arm, she paused the song as she let the thing go to sleep. One step at a time... Perhaps she had finally stumbled upon step one?

James kept his face stoic as he listened to the rhythm of the people as they made there way up and down the street. It was the little things like this that he had learned were the real jewels of life, it was so chaotic so random yet if you listened to it all at once you could here each life almost harmonizing with the others for just a few seconds as they past each other. They exiled me thinking that the appearance they gave me would leave me an outcast in the human world on top of being an exiled from my own kind. Not even the elders could have forseen that this appearance would one day be considered normal. James thoughts trailed off as he started to mentally rant however when he heard Hannah give her sales pitch for the poetry reading James cracked one eye open and looked around; normally he was everyone's last stop for news so his mind told him that there had to be someone new on the street. What he saw didn't disappoint his ego, a young girl was looking in the windows of the shop seemingly amazed by what she saw in the windows.

The girl couldn't of been much older than sixteen or seventeen...maybe eighteen at the oldest, though the way she looked at the small things in the window it was obvious this girl had grown up with a very tough life. Not many kids this day in age take the time to look at the small things, and those that do are normally just looking for trouble. She was dressed in all black except for her light blue jacket. She had some kind of object on her arm. When she turned and looked up at James' shop he closed his eyes and resumed the guise of being alseep on his steps.

“Excuse me?” a small curious voice spoke up.

“Hello...” James spoke as he sat up and opened his eyes, after waiting a moment James stood up, when the girl didnt speak anymore he smiled warmly. “Is there something I can help you with miss?” James held out his hand, “My name is James, by the way.”

Looking up at the man, the girl returned his smile as she listened to him introduce himself as James. As he offered his hand the girl stared at it for a moment... It wasn't often that she was greeted with a handshake. While Karakura seemed to be a somewhat Westernized city in Japan, she realized that some of the Japanese customs seemed to stick with a lot of it's residents. The first bow she had encountered was strange to say the least, the one that followed even stranger, but over the months she had gotten used to it. She had gotten used to the accent and had even become used to people looking at her funny because of her own... Most of her friends couldn't even pronounce her name.

To have the man offer a handshake was almost refreshing.

"Isabelle, but please call me Izzie." The smile remained on the girl's face as she took the man's hand and shook it. Pulling her hand back, she set her cup down on the sidewalk beside her as she began rolling the chord to her ear buds around the iPod. "Do you know when the owner of this place is going to be around? I'd really like to ask him some questions about private lessons... Though I guess I could easily get that information by walking in and asking a..." The girl's voice trailed off into a mumble, the last few words in her sentence undecipherable by human ears. The man had no reason to care why she would want lessons... He had even less of a reason to care about how her mind seemed to wander from subject to subject without rhyme or reason.

Letting a small laugh, the girl's gaze turned to the device in her hands for a moment. Maybe change the subject? Small talk wasn't something that came naturally to her, though most people thought it did. She was still a child... Attempting to take things one step at a time. Though... With the life she had been dealt, she felt as though she was being tripped more often than not.

"Are you waiting for someone?" The question left the girl's lips as she gestured to the doors of the building. Judging based on his appearance alone, she guessed that he was somewhere in his early 20s. 23 max. A daughter maybe? She knew it was wrong for her to automatically jump to conclusions, but if they were in her head then was she really hurting anyone? No. In their current world, it was completely plausible for a boy his age to have a daughter taking self-defense lessons. Some people actually believed learning at such a young age would increase the student's probability of retaining the information; the girl wasn't one of those people.

James kept his smile warm as he watched the girl's reaction to his offer of a handshake, sure he had lived in Japan since the end of World War II but still he had a hard time accepting some of their customs. Bowing was one of them, how could he be honest in his show of respect when he was older and stronger than most of the mortals that wished him to bow. After the young woman shook his hand James let it fall back to his side.

Izzie, as she had wished to be called, had said she was looking for the owner of the dojo behind him. But there was something more than that; this young woman was shy and almost afraid to be any sort of bother to anyone. This sent a flare up in the old dragon's mind, why would a girl be afraid of strangers? What had she seen to make her act this way? Is it the same reason she wish to see the owner of the dojo? His thoughts came to an abrupt halt when izzie asked if he was waiting for someone.

“No, not that I knew of, but it seems fate had intended for me to wait here for you.” James cleared his throat and dusted off the dirt from the steps that were on his jeans. “I am the owner and master of this dojo, James Cadwallader. Though my fighting style is different from any they will teach you else where I can assure you that you will learn your own way.” James gave a formal bow as one would when introducing their dojo to a prospective student.

Straightening back up James would give the young woman another look over, “So would you like to come in and tell me why it is so important that you you see me? I assume it is something you wouldn’t want anyone else out here to overhear.”

Here for me? The thought passed through the girl's mind as she heard the words leave the man's mouth. She didn't understand what he was talking about, but there was a high possibility that he was thinking the same thing about her. It wasn't until the man introduced himself as the owner of the dojo that the girl began to understand. But he's soo... Young. There was a slight furrow of her eyebrows as she thought about it for a moment. From what she understood, it wasn't unusual for a man of his age to still be taking lessons to gain his qualifications for teaching.

"It's not important, or at least... It's not urgent and if you don't have time, I understand. I shouldn't have interrupted your nap... You probably don't have very many days off." Her words were rushed as she spoke. That's right Isabelle... Downplay it like you always do.  How many times had her mother reprimanded her for being impatient? Once a week? Twice a week for most of her teenage life? Taking a deep breath, the girl went over in her mind what the man had said. He had a nice sale's pitch, but it almost seemed too good to be true.

She could try and she could fail, but it was a step.

The girl stared at the man as he straightened up and offered to take a step inside. How was she supposed to tell a complete stranger that she was seeing monsters everywhere she went? How was she supposed to explain that even at the age of 16, she was scared of the dark? She couldn't. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Cadwallader." She was a Marchant and with the name came an expected mentality. Her father was a genius... Her mother talented in her own ways. The facade of confidence that came with her name was cracking and she needed to fix the cracks before anymore weakness seeped through... She had to be exceptional. "Wanting to protect oneself isn't a reason to be ashamed of." There was a note of uncertainty in the girl's voice as she said the words, but she quickly covered it up with one of her famous smiles. It wasn't every day that a young girl wanted to learn how to "protect" herself, but she didn't feel like she had a choice. These things weren't going away and she wasn't sure how much more of it she could take.

"Perhaps, we can step inside and discuss prices?" Walking up the steps, she passed the man as she tried to keep the veil of curiosity in the air. She knew she wanted the lessons. She was positive that she needed the lessons. Now all she had to do was convince him that she was a capable student. Pushing the door open, she held it as she looked back at him... Not really sure where he was planning on having his "talk."

When he heard the young woman trying to make excuses, James frowned, this young woman's lack of self confidence was soon going to becoming vexing if it kept on like this. “Izzie...I assure you that I have nothing better to do with my day other than pretend to sleep like a lazy bum here on the on the front steps of my dojo.” He streched out his arms over his head trying to get his shoulders to pop to no avail. “My days off a few and far between, but that is another story for another time. A real teacher never has a day off for learning isn't something you just quit at the end of the day.” The old dragon smiled as he readied himself to cut off her next excuse if she had one.

When she referred to him as “Mr. Cadwallader” James blanched, he really should of chosen a different name for this decade, but over the years it had become a game to him. Throwing darts at phone book pages, what ever the last page that the dart pierced he would rip out and throw another dart thus picking his last name. “Please, just James...” He started to make some rather off topic joke but her comment about being able to defend herself stopped his jokes dead in their tracks.

James followed the young woman inside, she had wanted to discuss prices, but after her last comment money was the farthest thing from the old dragon's mind. “Izzie, if I may ask, why would you ever think that defending yourself would be shameful in the first place? Is there someone following you, threatening you?” James spoke out of genuine concern for the young woman in front of him, “It's alright if you don't want to tell me, everyone has a right to their secrets. Take it from someone who has lived a little longer though, sometimes a troubling secret is less troubling when shared.”