It was her day off. A rare treat for the pink haired young woman. Well, she wasn't all that young anymore, even by shinigami standards. She was well over 1000 years old, almost 2000, though one could not tell by looking at her. She was the 11th Division captain, or the Kenpachi. Lanying Baozhai.

Because it was her day off, she decided to head to her 'off the books' home in North Rukongai. She never used it as a living space, not for her at least, and instead used it as a makeshift home for all the animals she had come to own during her long life.

As she walked the streets of North Rukongai district 4, the people cowered from her. Most people in the Rukongai feared her, for two reasons. Not only was she the Kenpachi, but many years ago she was also in the Maggot's Nest, the prison that housed the worst of the worst. Albeit she was there for something she didn't do and the fact that she ever served time there was expunged, those old enough still remember that day as if it was yesterday.

As she stepped over the border that separated district 4 from district 5, she would make a left, heading down a small alley way. This alley was an essential maze, but the captain knew it like she knew the back of her hand. She used this alley in the case she was ever followed, knowing that if anyone found out about this place, her reputation would only get worse and there was a high chance of her having to get rid of the place.

As she exited the alley way, what greeted her was a meager house on the other side of the road from district 4. From inside one could hear barking, mewing, and other kinds of animal noises. She headed towards the home and, a rare thing happened. She smiled as she opened the doors, being greeted by about 50 animals of all kinds. She hadn't been to see them in a little over a month as she has been swamped by paperwork, and as she currently had very little seated officers, she was forced to take care of most of the work, so they were all happy to see her.

She stayed with them for a little while, playing with them, making sure they were well fed and well taken care of. Despite her inability to see them, she had asked some of the townsfolk to watch over them and, whether by fear or willingness, they agreed. After about an hour, she decided that it was time to go as the other reason she had left today was to get some supplies. She was running low on ink and other supplies.

She would frown at her pets and, another rare treat, open her mouth to speak. "Sorry...I have to go..." Her voice, fitting her personality and her quiet nature, was soft and gentle, almost to the point of being near inaudible. She got up to leave and left the house and went back onto the streets of the Rukongai.

Today was a new day. A new day of opportunity, or maybe new day for achievement. For Azrial, it was a day for slacking off and taking some leisure time. While laying in his bed looking at the ceiling he contemplates about his recent experiences and what he wants to do to ease his mind from what he calls "captain chores". After months of getting to know his new squad mates, and rigorous training, he decided that he would take a long overdue break and socialize with who ever came across him. Azrial has yet to really make any freinds since he arrived at the Soul Society thus developing this "cocky" but arrogant attitude about meeting new people, thinking he is very likable but deep down he knows hes a outcast in a new environment. Not too long ago he was just appointed captain position and still not adjusting well to his role but takes it one day at a time.

Each day that passes by he always wonders to himself if he was even ready for such a great responsibility. The blue moon war has affected him so, after all his mentor died during that whole ordeal. With out hesitation he made the choice to enjoy himself to some "R&R" and relaxation and clear his head.

"Sneaking out of here is what i might need after what i been through these last 100 years. Heh, why the hell not. Hopefully i can probably find something fun to do for once, that doesn't involve fighting...that's the last thing i want to do for a while"

Azial stand upAs he gets puts on his black jacket and long blue scarf, he heads out to the Rukongai Districts to give himself an overdue tour of the soul society. "Normally, I don't venture this far out but i gotta see what the outside of my room is like, ha". Of course he didnt notify his squad mates so sure enough they will find out that he is M.I.A and will be looking for him due to his past history of disobeying orders by the "higher ups".

"Eh, im sure they will be fine. I train them to be tough, not to be snitches..."

While hes walking down the streets of north the Rukongai District with both arms crossed high behind his head, while holding his head up, he noticed someone from a distance. He hasn't seen this person around before, better yet no body with pink hair before. She seems odd but something about her is strange. Out of fear that someone may judge him at first glance, Azrial feels that this person may not just give him the cold shoulder like many others before.

"Hmm..ah she looks like shes busy, but hey i have nothing to do so lets see if she wants to chat. Maybe she can tell me where the hell I am"

As he walks towards the pink haired stranger, he shouted from a distance "Hello! Hi, may you help me?"

Walking out the door of her off the books home and back onto the street, she would hear someone call out to someone. Not really knowing who was being called, she would look around to see that the street was empty except for her. She turned around and saw a man slowly walking towards her.

She heard him call to ask if she could help him, and, not wanting to speak as she didn't recognize the person, she nodded her head and walked over to him as she pulled her small notepad from her right sleeve, along with a pen.

Opening the notepad and clicking her pen, she would write in two of her empty pages. "I can help you." on one page and "What do you need?" on the other.

Never one to lose sight of his responsibilities, Arius never let his Captain out of his sight for longer than necessary. More often then not having to smooth some ruffled feathers when Azrial-taicho would do his own thing with a pile of paperwork left on his desk. Granted Pelagios did most of it anyway actually finding it somewhat therapeutic, but that's beside the point. Having followed his Captain from the barracks to keep an eye on him, Arius could only sigh as he watched his superior wander around aimlessly, unaware of his own location. When the lost Shinigami Captain walked up to a pink-haired woman he could only gape at the man while also wondering where he had seen that shade before.

It took a bit before he smacked his forehead, "Baozhai-taicho!" He whispered in frustration. "What in Seireitei are you doing Taicho! This is no time to be hitting on the Eleventh Division Captain!" Of course, Arius doesn't really know what his superior is doing walking up to her, but that didn't stop him from coming to a conclusion of his own, however erroneous. "I really hope she doesn't kill him out of hand. The paperwork would be terrible. And I would be the only one able to do it!" Now, while Arius does like to do paperwork, excessive amounts due to foolish behavior is NOT appreciated.

Sighing once again, Arius quickly changed his hiding spot once the Captain had his back to him. He knew he couldn't stay hidden forever, but it helped him sleep better at night knowing that his Captain didn't destroy a district or start a war with someone during his "breaks".

As Azrial walks up to the pink haired stranger, he stopped walking and stood about four feet from her and noticed that she is holding a notepad and held it in front of her, with the words

"I can help you. What do you need?"

Looking confused, Azrial is curious to why she wouldn't speak. Not to be rude and grab her notepad out of her hands to write something, he quickly came up with an idea to communicate back. Azrial reached in his pocket and took out a small sticky note and started to write. After he finished he presented with the pad in his right hand to her with the words "Hello may you tell me where i am? Im lost and new to this area." The second page of the pad also stated "You look friendly enough, so i thought i ask you. By the way one more question, What is your name stranger?".

Nervous on what her reaction may be he still kept a good poker face not showing anxeity meeting some one new for the first time in "god knows how long". Hoping this conversation will start off well enough to possibly make a new friend outside his quarters this one time.

In the back of his mind, he thinks back to how he usually shows a harsh exterior to his fellow squad mates or people in general, while displaying an un wanting amount of arrogance to hide his loneliness, feeling that he doesn't belong so he takes it out on the guys back at the barracks during training except to his lieutenant. He feels that Arius has him figured out and is not easily as intimidated like the rest and Azrial respects the fact the he looks out for whats best for the squad, even though Azrial is never does his paperwork and leaves the load for Arius to do. He laughs a little bit to him self.

"Im surprised that Arius is not hunting me down like a lost child at a food market. Im sure he'll show his head soon enough to lecture me but hey hes the only one I can even tolerate back that barracks"

While he waits for a response from the pink haired stranger he turns his head around, feeling that hes being watched. He quickly came to the conclusion that he had a bad itch so he started scratching his neck. Turns back around and continues to wait.

Lanying would notice the man get a slightly confused look on his face when he noticed that she didn't speak. She saw him pull out a sticky note and write his answer down, saying he was lost.

She would flip her notepad over to another blank page and write the words "You are in North Rukongai District 4." A long sentence that just barely fit the small notepad. She also heard the man ask her name, which was odd as most people in the Seireitei knew her some way or another, whether by reputation or something else. She flipped her notepad again and wrote out her name, as well as her rank as she was currently not wearing her haori and instead wore just her customized shihakusho. "Captain Lanying Baozhai."

After introducing herself in her unique manner, she flipped her notepad over yet again and wrote out the words "Who are you?"

A panting Shinigami's form was plastered to the side of a building after barely avoiding detection by his Taicho. He was lucky that the man didn't investigate the suspicion as he wasn't sure he would have been able to avoid him for long. Arius sighed in relief. If anyone had seen him right then they would have been sure that he was an imposter for all that he was acting out of character. Dramatics were never his area of expertise. He would probably have to go down there eventually, but for right now he didn't want to incite either of the two captains' ire. No matter how laid-back they might appear at times.

Sadly enough he would most likely just leave them to it, as even though the Captain usually left his paperwork to him, he still had his own, which he was sure was being piled on his desk as he thought this. But he'd be damned he'd go back without making sure that some of it was done by the Division Captain! He glared lightly at the man over the rooftop he was hiding behind.

Azrial suspects that she may have a hard time speaking in the near future so he thought to himself that he can break the mold with a positive attitude, that he rarely shows to anyone, and quickly started writing his response. He then finished and presented her his response pages.

The 1st page reads "Oh thank you for telling me! Like i mentioned im new to the area and just thought i walk around and do a little sight seeing. I normally never walk outside my barracks.".

The 2 page continues "Allow me to introduce my self, My name is Captain Azrial of Squad Ten. Great to meet you Captain Lanying. What is your squad?"

The last page ends with "If you don't mind me asking, how come you don't want to speak? Just wondering, because im running out of pages, ha."

While he waits for her answer, Azrial cant help but think of something off about this area but cant put his finger on it. He wonders to himself "Hmm i guess i should head back but *heh* they can wait a few more minutes". He feels that something is around stalking but it may be his own paranoia.

The pink-haired captain would smile a little, something she rarely did, but the smile would quickly vanish at his question on why she didn't speak.

She flipped her notepad once again and wrote down her division number. "Captain of the 11th." as well as the words "It's nice to meet you."

In an answer to his final question, on why she didn't speak, she would simply write down three words. "Don't want to." While that was partially true, it wasn't the whole truth. Very few people knew why she didn't speak, and she refused to tell someone she barely knew. In answer to his running out of pages, she wrote down the words "I'm not deaf. I can hear you if you speak."

Azrial is not shocked by her response since in all fairness he is a true stranger to her, as she is to him. He did witness a smirk on her face for a brief second so he finally feels that this conversation is getting somewhere. After he read her last response, he then spoke. "Oh sorry, im aware your not deaf since you did turned around when i said hello, ha. I just didn't want to give you a feeling of discomfort hence why i chose to communicate with sticky notes. Its something my late mentor taught me when it came to talking to people. Anyway i apologize for asking why, was curious is all. Its only fair since you don't know me at all and i understand, ha. I don't have the best of social skills as you can see"

Azrial proceeds with nervous smile feeling embarrassed but then laughs a little.


"Anyway, so your from 11 huh? Come to think to it, i believe I don't hear much from you guys. I mean, i hear rumors and gossip about other squads, even my own, but not you guys. Are you new to the captain role?"

As he peeked over the rooftop again, Arius watched as Azrial shook lightly. Straining his ears, he heard laughter, although what inspired it he had no idea. At least they weren't killing each other, that would have been bad. Especially when the next Captain's meeting was called. The fact that Baozhai-taicho wasn't standing up flailing her sword around could only be a good thing.

Smiling softly, Arius lowered his head back down to avoid detection, although how much longer he would remain unseen was sure to be short. He had heard many things about the Kenpachi of Squad 11, but her skills were not often mentioned. Although her ability with a blade was sure to be equal to his own at the very least as she was in charge of the fighting division, he could only guess at how strong she really was.

As he laid there on the roof, he sensed someone coming up behind him. Turning around, he saw one of the more subtle members of his division, which was saying something as most were about as subtle as an avalanche. He glared at him slightly, "What do you want?"

The fool gulped, "Well sir, another pile of paperwork came in regarding that Hollow in North America."

Arius' glare deepened, "You mean the Hollow that you were supposed to deal with, right?"

Sweat formed on the Unseated member's brow, "Y-yes sir, that Hollow. Y-you see, the d-damage to the en-environment was extensive so-"

Arius cut him off, "You do know that the only reason that I used excessive force was because I was irritated for having to do your job, right?" It was taking all he had not to give him toilet duty for the foreseeable future.

"W-well you see, Pelagios-fukutaicho, my friends in the 11th Di-division really wou-wouldn't take no for an answer so-" The idiot plowed on pathetically.

"And that just means that, because I covered for you, you have to do all resulting paperwork." He started to stutter again, causing Arius to become irritated and so decided to resort to Kido to get his point across. "Hado number 1: Shou!"

And with an almighty thrust he flung the fool away... straight into the wall across from Azrial and Lanying. Arius winced at that as he cautiously peeked over the roof and saw the dizzy Shinigami shakily rise to his feet only to fall arse over teakettle onto the ground. After a few more tries the idiot finally managed to stand upright without toppling and, after bowing the two captains, calmly walked away... straight into a lamppost. After declaring that he meant to do that, he backed up, went around it... and tripped over a garbage can. Slowly rising to his feet once more, he cautiously walked around the can and kept going... right into a wooden support beam that was being carried to District 3 to do some upgrades to the house. After regaining consciousness seconds later, he turned around, bowed to the two captains again, and disappeared around the corner.

"I never knew how much of a walking disaster he was," Arius mumbled to himself.

She would shake her head as he asked if she was new to being a captain. She hasn't been new for a little over 100 years, 104 to be exact, including the 30 years before her time in the Maggot's Nest and the 74 years before the Blue Moon War. "Been captain for 104 years" is what she would write on her notepad.

She was getting bored with this conversation and just as she was about to bow, another shinigami came flying between her and Captain Azrial. She would bow a little back to the shinigami as she watched him stumble around and trip over every little thing that was in his path.

When he was gone, she looked in the direction he came from and, letting out a little bit of her massive amount of reiatsu, would attempt to scout to see if she could find anything. Though, despite her massive amount of reiatsu, this was not her strong point and she would probably not sense anything if the person in question was above a 5th seat position.

Not sensing anything, she would regain control of her reiatsu and look back towards Captain Azrial. "Do you know what just happened?" is what she would write on her notepad.

After that random encounter, Azrial quickly turned his smile into a serious expression knowing something is up. As he watched the clumsy oof run away from location he recognizes his face, its one of his grunts from Squad 10. Azrial doesn't acknowledge the man but just looks at him with a death stare knowing that he has plans for punishment as soon as he gets back to the barracks.

As Azrial tunrs back around facing Captain Lanying, he sees her holding the notepad asking what he saw.

"To be honest with you, im in the same boat as you from what just happend"

Azriel can sense that she is uneasy on what just happened and felt a bit of her reiatsu. Like she was ready to go on a mission towards the direction where the fool flew from as he sees her stare in the direction across the way from where they are standing. Azrial looks at the roof of the building and sensing thats where his colleague launched from. As he stares in that location he thinks to himself. "Arius, why do i have the feeling you have something to do with that clumsy fool?"

Right after that thought, he quickly turns around and see someones head peeking out from the roof. He suspects that it may be Arius. He ask's the captain "Captain don't be alarmed for what im about to do so just bare with me, ok?" He then turns around and shouts  -

"HEY! I know its you! Please come on out and don't be rude to our new friend here!"

He then turns to face Captain Lanying.

"By the way from what just happened, I can tell you were ready to do something. I can assure you that there is nothing to worry about. Heh you probably already knew that"


Azriel then stands there with Lanying, waiting for a response from the unknown stranger, hopefully being his lieutenant.

He sighed; he new he should have been more careful with how he aimed, but he wasn't thinking clearly at the time, so now he was found out. Raising his head over the roof once more he waved at his captain before launching himself over the other side and landing on the ground. He walked over shortly after, and bowed to both the captains, "Hello Baozhai-taicho, Azrial-taicho. Baozhai-taicho, my name is Arius Pelagios, vice-captain of Squad 10. I apologize for my subordinate. He informed me of a new stack of paperwork that I had ordered be placed on his desk but he then had placed on mine because he didn't want to deal with it. I had of course given him plenty of hints to go away, but I apparently gave him more credit than he was due. So I gave him a little push in the right direction. My only regret is the direction he chose to fly."

Arius stood with his back straight throughout his introduction and explanation. He honestly hadn't expected the fool to turn just enough that he would go in that direction. It would have saved him a lot of trouble if he had gone in the opposite direction. But no use crying over spilled milk, best to make use of the situation he has found himself in. He smiled awkwardly. This really wasn't his area of expertise. Give him a whining subordinate to straighten out. Sure. Finish all of this weeks paperwork by tomorrow morning? No problem. Talk his way out of a situation? You've got better luck convincing a Hollow it really doesn't want to devour souls. Sure there might be a couple, but for the most part, they will laugh in your face before attempting to eat yours. And Arius has often found this comparison most appropriate many times over the past centuries.

She would nod her head as Azriel yelled for his subordinate. She couldn't tell what rank he was until he told her himself. She then listened to his explanation and, upon his finishing, she would do something highly unusual for her. She would let out a small, barely audible giggle. She found Arius's account of the story funny. However, as quick as the giggle came, it was soon replaced by her normal blank and emotionless expression.

She would then begin to write in her notepad, going through a few pages this time. "It's ok. You don't have to be sorry. Though you should go easy on your subordinates. We all make mistakes. No one is perfect."

It was very rare for her to waste this much paper spreading wisdom to those much younger than her, but she only felt it was necessary at this point in time as it had caused her to break out of her shell, if only for a few seconds. Upon finishing her spout of wisdom, she noticed that her notepad was starting to run low, so she would have to buy a new one soon.

After the sign of relief was revealed in front of him, Azrial realizes that he may need to head back to the barracks soon so he can get that infamous lecture from Arius over with. For now, Azrial can't help but laugh at Arius's expense.

"HAHA! Arius's you sure do know how to make a young guy feel welcomed and stalked. I take it you were looking for me due to the mountain of paper we most likely have stacked?"

Azrial playing dumb, knowing good and well that he NEVER does any work but since he feels a little bit of sympathy having Arius go through the trouble locating him and possibly almost getting into a fight with Captain Lanying.

Before speaking, Azrial noticed Lanying's notepad is a lot thinner since the conversation started. Feeling bad that he took up a lot up of her time, more than intended, he digs in his pockets.

"Again we apologize for that Captain. Just like myself he gets a little carried away with things. I think it may be time for us to head back to the barracks but before we depart here is something for putting up with me for the last 30 minutes."

Azrial extends his right arm towards Lanying, with a handful of kan.

"Here, You can buy a full notepad with this. You had alot of pages before I came around here. I take it that its your main form of communicating, I wont be needing it anyway since i'll borrow Arius's money later on. HA! "

Azrial begins to laugh a little at Arius's expense but turns his head, looking at him, showing sign of appreciation at the same time.

It seems that the stoic captain does indeed have a fine laugh, Pelagios thought to himself. He couldn't help but wonder what it was that held her back from expressing herself, although he would never ask. he was well aware of her previous residence in the Maggots Nest, and felt no need to stir up unpleasant memories if in fact they were. He sighed when he heard Azrial-taicho tell Baozhai-taicho that he (Arius) would be paying for the replacement. Arius had been wary after hearing the laugh, but when he caught his captain's eye he relaxed again. He knew, beneath all the jokes and evasion, that his captain did appreciate him, but it was nice to see it confirmed again every so often. Now if only he would stop dipping into my wallet I would feel really appreciated, he thought resignedly, knowing that he would in fact end up paying for the paper, no matter that his captain had been the one to put forth the money.

"Yes, Taicho," Arius sighed, "And Baozhai-taicho, thank you for your words of wisdom, although there are some in my division who don't understand that the concept of 'if it didn't work the first time, keep trying until it does' is not a good one to live up to, which, sadly, many do. And Azrial-taicho, I suppose I can give you another 30 minutes or so to get back, so take your time. In apology for interrupting your conversation." He bowed deeply to the two, "I bid you a good day, Baozhai-taicho, and I will see you later, Azrial-taicho."

And with that he straightened back up, turned around and in a flash of light disappeared back toward the Seireitei where the 10th Division barracks were located.

[Exit]

The captain would smile a little, she was doing that a lot today, as Lieutenant Arius left to get back to his mountain of paperwork, a feeling she knew well. She gladly accepted Captain Azrial's kan and bowed a little before writing out on last thing in her notepad. "Thank you."

She would then close her notepad and put it back into the right sleeve of her customized shihakusho. Turning her back to the captain would reveal the open back of her uniform as well as the many scars she wore on her back, most of them with deep shame and regret hidden beneath the scar tissue. She would start to walk away, in the direction of the market place, and hope that Captain Azrial wouldn't question her on her scars. It was a topic she didn't like talking about.

While Arius was walking away, Azrial bowed to him showing sign that he will follow suit shortly back tot he barracks. After Lanying gladly accepted his gift, Azrial would smile at her knowing today was good, despite a few set backs.

After he read her last message, she would grab her belongings and started to walk in the opposite direction towards the market plaza, where more than likely that was her original destination until Azrial showed up. As she started to turn around and walk away, Azrial did noticed an opening on the back of her uniform exposing some type of scarring. Azrial quickly realized why she might have been quiet this whole time,

"Wow that explains it...she must have been through a lot. Cant tell if those are battle scars, torture scars but either way she seen things, or done things, that must have messed her up mentally. And i thought i had it rough with my past. She seemed timid but when my foolish colleague flew to the wall, i haven't felt so much reiatsu in a very brief moment of time. I better walk on egg shells next time but which ever the case, she seems friendly enough to me!"

Azrial might be a hurt person inside and out but on that day he learned that hes not the only one who might have had a broken past, one way or another. Despite the urge to curiously ask why,  he quickly remembered how she reacted when he asked about her way of communicating earlier.

"Well i was raised to NEVER ask about anyone's past until they are comfortable to tell me so. That and she seems very shy about talking in genral. So ill assume shes just the quiet type. For now i will remain quiet about that if i run into her again."

Before making his departure, Azrial shouted one more thing from a short distance, from where he was currently standing, as Lanying was walking away.


"HEY! IF YOU EVER WANT TO TALK AGAIN YOU KNOW WHERE TO FIND ME! NICE MEETING YOU CAPTAIN LANYING! YOU ARE AMONG FRIENDS WITH SQUAD 10! HA!"

After that short display, he then turned around in the opposite direction then flashed, sunpoed, out of sight heading back to the barracks where Arius was awaiting to give his usual lecture.


[EXIT]

She would briefly turn around as she heard her fellow captain yell towards her. Without even pulling out her notepad, she would offer him a simple bow of acknowledgement, inwardly thanking him for 'talking' with her today. Upon bowing, she would turn around again and continue walking towards the market place, her kan in hand.

Upon reaching the market place she headed to each individual store that held the supplies she needed, including the ink shop, the wood shop so she could replace the training dummies, and finally heading over to the paper shop so she could buy the paper she needed as she was running low, as well as a new notepad.

Supplies in hand, and the day nearing it's end, she started to walk back to the 11th division barracks, knowing it would take her a little while but not really minding the walk.

[END THREAD]