Episode 2: A moment's respite... peaceful, beautiful days.

Two days have passed since the Karakura Town incident. There were many injuries amongst the ranks of the junior shinigami who went out to battle the hollows, but not one fatality, and the presence of the arrancar, as well as what little information was obtained regarding their ambitions, was information limited to only those directly involved, and the captains.

Those who suffered injuries, however minor, were forced to spend an observation period in the care of fourth division, while those who were not got to return to their barracks... waiting eagerly for the evaluation of their final exam, and the prospect of perhaps finally being drafted into one of the thirteen divisions.

Today is an almost eerily perfect and beautiful one. The sky is high, and azure blue, with the temperature warm but not suffocating. It would be a good day to train, to relax, to meet new people, or to simply take a walk... let the worries of the past night leave you... for those who can...

Phoenix went through the motions of her hakuda training, but it was an automatic thing, and anyone watching would notice that her form was off. Her mind was elsewhere, thinking about the dreams she'd had the past few nights. No, not dreams. They were more like nightmares.

Last night's dream in particular had been pretty harrowing. It still troubled her, though it was hard to remember in detail. All she could remember was talking to someone who looked exactly like her; or to be more accurate, a hollowfied version of her. Skin white as a ghost, yellow eyes rimmed in black, white hair, the works. "Why do you bother to protect other people? It just got you killed," the albino Phoenix had mocked her with a sneer.

What did it mean? Was it just her inner thoughts or was there more to it? Phoenix had no idea who to talk to about it.

Walking on a path weaving between trees was a pair of Soul Reapers. Others would see that they were close friends but they always spoke to each other differently than they would anyone else. The blonde female Soul Reaper was a loud mouth, breaking anyone within ear shot out of concentration and the black haired boy simply nodded to just about anything she said.

"Don't you think this is great, Collin? I mean look! We're Soul Reapers and whats more, we get a zanpakto...!" She said, whispering the last word as if it was a secret. The boy named Collin seemingly shook his head gently at the girls excitement.

"Alice, your being loud again..." He had said quietly, trying to enjoy the scenery as much as possible. Alice began pouting.

"Well so~or~ry! Didn't mean to make little brother mad." Alice sneered, earning a smile from Collin. He simply nudged her playfully.

"It doesn't work with twins, silly. Older or younger, we're still together for a while... Your not getting rid of me yet." Collin giggled as his sister finally had nothing to say. They continued making their way to their destination, which was wherever they wandered upon.

There were many different sort of days, many different sort of activities to go with it too. But, she had decided, on a calm and peaceful day like this there was only one thing to do; watch people. It was quite intriguing to see the difference between them all she mused while looking at a particular interesting one she had stumbled across. Castor knew many people who took more care in guarding their mind than their body, but this one didn't seem to share that philosophy. Although she could only guess the reason this shinigami was obviously distracted, fact was that in the stance of the redhead she was observing there were unusual flaws. Unusual in a way that it simply looked careless and not lack of skill.
The corners of her mouth curled up slightly as she bend down to pick up a small chunk of earth at her feet. Stepping back into the shadows she softly threw it at the girl, wondering whether she was so absorbed in her thoughts she wouldn't notice.

((So rusty. DX I'll get better over time, I promise. I hope.))

"Damn it," she murmured under her breath.

Though it wasn't really her style to complain about her current situation, she has already been losing her patience inside the barracks of the 4th. She was confined to stay on the bed for several more hours, awaiting confirmation from Retsu-taisho that she was good to go.

Her eyes peered out the window, the sky was just beautiful today, the temperature was just right for some good kick-ass training. She couldn't help the feeling that she's missing out on a lot. She tried reasoning with the officers from the 4th, claiming that none of her injuries 'hurt' and that the source of these injuries were not from the enemy.

She felt that she was getting slower and weaker by the second. And this idea of being confined was already nibbling at her ego.

The idea of sneaking out of the 4th did cross her mind, but she fought every fiber in her body to stay put, she does not want any trouble, let alone the results of her evaluation changed because of impatience.

She traced the linings of the windows. "This is going to be a looooong day," she said to no one in particular.

Phoenix jumped as something hit her, and bit back a curse that she'd been so unaware of her surroundings that someone had managed not only to sneak up on her, but also throw a clump of mud at her. She stared at the now broken clump for a second, contemplating. It hadn't been thrown that hard, so whoever had done it probably didn't mean any harm. Then the realization that she had paused gave her pause; normally she acted without thinking. The old her would have yelled out and challenged the thrower to show their face and ask them what was the big idea in throwing mud at her. What was going on with her? Was it the nightmares? Or was she realizing she needed to be more careful after what she'd gotten herself into against the Arrancars? And was there anyone she could talk to about it? She was so frustrated she could almost scream.

Castor tilted her head to the side. Curious.
A full hit and not even an attempt to dodge. Even after the hit no real recognition. It didn't seem as if she was guarding herself at all, being too absorbed in her own thoughts instead. Castor wondered whether trying to sneak up on her and try to tackle her would be a nice follow-up experiment, just to see if she'd notice that at least. Then with a grin she decided she didn't want to risk it, with the aura of frustration the person in front of her was radiating. The day was too pretty to get caught up in a fight.
So instead she left the comfort of the shadows and took a step forward.

"Something troubling you~?"

Jin squinted in the sunlight filtering through the lone window of the room. She had woken up moments ago to find her thigh bandaged, her bruises treated, and her own person lain uncomfortably on the stiff bed the Fourth Division had provided her with.

“Ah yes, of course, where else would I be but the Fourth Division?” she muttered darkly as her hand went absently to the chain on her neck, starting to entangle with the foreign one she was forced to wear in order to fight better, then to the simple but alluring pendant that settled below the hollow of her throat. She had trained all her life to get to where she was, to prove certain people wrong, to prove to herself that she was right and she belonged here. But at the moment of truth, what had she done? ‘Floundered,’ she thought firmly. Her kansashi and her kido did little more than tickle the arrancar; her shunpo which she prided herself in was painfully slow compared to the sonido she was carried through like a child rather than a proper enemy or prisoner. “Tch,” she tossed her head back onto the bed and clenched her eyes shut against the light, trying to comfort herself with the thought that those were high level arrancar she went up against. She did well to survive, or so she was told while she was drifting in and out of sleep under the mousy Seventh Seat’s care.

When she calmed down a little from contemplating her lackluster performance, she noticed how peaceful it was. She supposed that she should be thankful that she was no longer in danger, but she couldn’t help but feel that something was off. It was too quiet for her taste, like notes meant for her ears had been blown away by the wind, leaving nothing but the shuffling of sheets as she moved and the tap-tap-tapping of slippered feet.

‘Wait, footsteps?’

Seventh Seat Hanataro entered the room shyly, greeting Jin then informing her that he was there to change the bandages. After that, she was free to go whenever she pleased. That brought a smile to her face. It was true that she was banned from major physical activity for at least the rest of the day, but she had achieved shikai and hence had some non-physical training that she could do. Indeed, something good had actually come out of her embarrassing encounter with the enemy! Though eventually she would have to train in the use of the naginata as well… She would have to think of where to get such training. Who has a similar weapon? Perhaps… yes! The famed Hozoukimaru… Third Seat Madarame! Now how would she-

Hanataro interrupted Jin’s musings with a disapproving cough. “Jin-san, your injury won’t heal well if you put-“ He paused, perplexed, as he pulled off the white bony structure from under the bandages on her thigh and saw, not a wound, but only slightly bruised, unbroken skin.

Jin knitted her brows, also confused by what was going on. “It’s a healing artifact,” she speculated, being vaguely familiar with the strange items under the care of the Shihouin. She must have sounded more certain than she was, for Hanataro simply nodded, satisfied for the moment. He handed her the piece, leaving with a few additional reminders, and a second puzzled look at her healing injury.

Phoenix eyed the newcomer cautiously. She vaguely remembered a name to go with the face. Castor, if she recalled correctly. They'd trained at the same time, and she remembered that Castor also excelled in hakuda. Castor hadn't gone with them on the mission for some reason or another, so chances were that she hadn't heard about Phoenix's experience with the Arrancar.

"You could say that," she answered finally, her mood shifting to something more cheerful.

In the short silence that had followed her question, Castor innocently looked at the other. She wasn't sure whether the look she was receiving was to estimate if she was a fair fight or if it was because of something else. Then again, running away was always an option.

"You could say that."

She beamed a wide grin. Friendly response. No need to run away. "I figured. You seemed distracted."
As she took a few steps towards Phoenix, she got the idea she was forgetting something. The closer she got, the more certain she was. Halting close to her, the grin suddenly dropped and was replaced by a blank stare as she suddenly remembered. "...I'm supposed to know you, aren't I?"

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "My name is Phoenix," she reminded Castor helpfully. "We trained in the academy together, remember?" she teased, with a chuckle. Without waiting for a reply, she continued. "I was distracted," she admitted. "I'd rather not talk about it, though."

arina inhaled deeply against the protests of her pained chest and head.

she had just regained consciousness the day before, and had almost immediately been interrogated by her superiors on the events that occured in karakura. having been knocked out somewhere in the middle of the arrancar versus shinigami confrontation, she knew little of what the outcome was, other than what she was filled in on. however her report on the latest arrancar technology, a hollowfying melody, had alarmed all her superiors. she was immediately put under tight surveillance, along with all the others who had been exposed to it in karakura.

it irritated her, that she was kept under such close watch. first, because there was a possibility of her going 'vaizard' on everybody's arses. and secondly, because--

"Arina! Return to your room this instant!"

exhaling exasperately, and watching the cloud of smoke rise and disperse from her mouth, arina lazily turned her eyes to her nurse and grinned.

"oh, am i doing something wrong?" she asked innocently, putting out her fag on the grass.

the nurse, an unranked soldier of the 4th division, marched angrily towards her seated form. she grabbed a single crutch and threw it on arina's lap, before grabbing her elbow and attempting to yank her up.

"ahh for fuck's sake, woman! easy! howd you even make it to the 4th division?" arina groaned, getting upand leaning heavily on her crutch. when reinforcements finally arrived back in karakura, arina was found under blocks of concrete. her head, chest, and left leg were in pretty bad condition and she was to stay in the 4th division hospital for a few more days.

"whatre you doing out here? you should be in your room, healing! not sitting out here catching the rays and smoking! smoking! what will captain unohana think of me, letting my patient slowly kill herself and others around her! secondhand smoke is infinitely more dangerous than regular smoke!" the nurse ranted, her arm hooked around arina's as she dragged her 'patient' back to her room.

arina simply followed, listening to the irritating woman rant some more, until she passed a room where a certain someone caught her eyes.

"jin?" she said, stopping and forcing her nurse to stop as well.

Higgins walked around the Soul Society, contemplating the incident from a couple days ago. He was powerless to help the others, and was taken down by reiatsu alone, and he still had feelings of dread as he remembered the words of the taller arrancar, about how they were trying to change shinigami into hollows. As he thought about it, something inside of him twinged in reaction. He realized he needed to train, in hopes to be able actually be active in a fight with powerful enemies. He decided to try to find some of the shinigami that he had gone with, so that they might train with him, and because he wanted to talk about the occurrence.

Alice began running toward the tree Collin was in and began to practice her Hakuda. Since Collin wasn't cooperating and didn't feel like being the kind brother that he was and help her, she had to find a better means. Collin stared at his sister and let his arms relax. Hakuda was never Collin's strength. He always preferred using his zanpakto or his kido more than anything. Plus, he couldn't hurt his sister let alone train with her. Alice stopped for a second and looked up at him. "This would make it a lot easier on the both of us if you at least helped me Collin!" Alice yelled up at him but Collin had no sign of emotion on his face.

"I know but Hakuda isn't my strong suit and I prefer not to hurt you..." He finished as he hooked his legs around the branch he lay on and swung himself upside down. Alice simply huffed and turned away.

"You couldn't hurt anyone with your Hakuda or any of your skills for that matter." She smirked, knowing she would get a rise out of him. "Your Zanjutsu is only average and your couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with your kido because you can't aim so theres-" Alice was cut off by a fist that was aimed inches from the back of her head. When she turned, she saw her very agitated brother standing behind her with a smile on his face.

"Allow me to beat you senseless for that. My kido and Zanjutsu are still better than you could ever dream of doing. So shut it." Collin said, aiming a hard kick for Alice's ribs. Alice caught it and held tight.

"Allow me to show you the power of my Hakuda, brother." She smirked, kicking Collin's free leg out from under him, causing him to fall in a heap on the grass. He too smirked and they continued the training as they had promised.

When Hanatarou left, Jin stared at the item in her hand, meaning to figure out what it was and why it was underneath her bandage if her healer had been similarly puzzled by its appearance. It was white one side, hard but slightly chalky in texture. The other side that gently curved outward was colorful, red, blue, and yellow lines slithering and coiling around each other in hypnotizing patterns. Jin drew the artifact-for that’s what she thought it was-closer to her face so she could decipher the pattern.

One and a half feet… one foot… half a foot… and closer still… through the narrowing distance, Jin failed to make out the details on the object. In fact, nothing about the item or her actions towards it registered in her conscious mind.

The object was two inches from touching her face when a voice called her out of her reverie from behind. “Jin?”

Somehow, it dawned on Jin that she was almost caught red-handed. Doing what? She didn’t know. But she covertly threw the artifact to her side, her eyes momentarily widening when she realized that in her haste, she had actually pitched the item out the window beside her bed.

She schooled her expression while she turned to face the newcomer before it dawned on her that it was her teammate from the mission. “Arina?” she asked, shocked by how much injury the woman had sustained when she initially thought Arina had fared better than most. “What happened to you?”

arina watched in amusement as jin stiffened slightly when she was called, however that changed to suspicion as she attempted to hide something by tossing it away. even though she was being monitored, being in the onmitsukido meant that it was also in her duty to be watching the other recruits who were at karakura two nights ago. while she wasnt very inclined on fulfilling this duty wholeheartedly, she was not against picking out suspicious behaviour if it was being displayed.

and jin certainly did not seem the type to be startled easily.

putting on a front, arina removed her arm from her nurse's and shrugged lightly. "while the rest of you were fighting against the arrancar, i was duelling a building apparently." she joked, before picking at her bandaged head. "actually, a cero hit my hiding spot."

she paused for a moment, taking in jin's physical condition. she seemed, for the most part, unscathed apart from a bandaged thigh. that she was even up was evidence that the injury wasnt all that bad - wait, wasn't she hit by a cero? from the reports arina had received of that night, jin was able to achieve shikai. perhaps her development in spiritual power played a hand in the speedy recovery...

"what was that?" arina asked casually, pointing at the window the unidentified objected had been thrown out of. "i dont think you should be throwing hospital property out of the window."

she watched as jin tried to come up with a plausible explanation, when the nurse who had for a while stood quietly grew impatient and tugged on arina's hospital gown.

"arina, we have to get you back to your room, before the others find out that youre missing. captain unohana would have my head! and i need my head if i plan on getting ranked!" the nurse said, once again hooking her arm around arina's.

with a sigh, arina nodded. "alright, alright. but i believe jin's got something that belongs to me" she said.

Mentally, Jin groaned that Arina of the Onmitsukidou, of all people, had noticed her odd reaction. Thankfully, having gathered her wits as she turned to face Arina the first time, Jin was able to formulate an excuse and lie smoothly when Arina questioned her. "Ehehe...," she chuckled sheepishly, eying the nurse with a convincing but false look of nervousness. "They were my... ahh... bandages..." she trailed off, casting her eyes down and to the side, ringing her finger around her collar.

"What?!" the high-strung nurse yelled. Obviously, Arina had been giving her trouble already.

"But I feel a lot better and it was itchy!" Jin whined back defensively, now completely ignoring Arina in favor of her act. "I didn't get all of it off though..." she continued in a low mumble and with a slight pout. And indeed, Hanatarou had put on less layers this time because her injury was all but completely healed.

"Let me see that!" the nurse demanded haughtily, hurriedly stepping to Jin's side and examining the injury and the bandaging. "Hmm," she seemed to calm down slightly, "well it does look like you recovered very quickly. You don't need the extra layers that you tossed out but you do need to keep the rest of this on, and don't you ever do something like this without Fourth Division approval, okay?" Her voice rose to back to a scolding tone at the end.

"Understood," Jin conceded softly though with a slight frown, the hand by her collar finding her necklace again by habit. "Oh, right!" she suddenly exclaimed, the necklace reminding her of what Arina last said. She looked at her teammate who apparently had been watching the exchange with a raised brow--an expression Jin hoped expressed nothing more than amusement.

Jin deftly untangled Arina's necklace from hers, raised it over her head and handed the accessory to Arina. "It's a nice necklace," she couldn't resist commenting with a smile and a slight tilt of her head. "Where'd you get it?"

re-adjusting herself on her crutch, arina reached out and took back her necklace.

something was wrong.

when arina had first met jin, she assumed she was the quiet calculative type. she hardly spoke and certainly did not display such exagerrated expressions. but now, now she did not hesitate to whine, pout, and even make idle chatter. she even went so far as to entertain arina's insufferable nurse.

'what are you hiding, jin?' she thought to herself. arina was trained in observing behaviour amongst many other things to help her interrogate and/or pick out the 'bad fruit from the bunch' so to speak, but jin managed to counter her suspicions by keeping up a very convincing act. or was she acting and hiding anything at all? arina hardly knew her after all, not to mention the situation they were in in karakura did not really leave any room for acquainting.

somewhere, arina felt herself dread the possibility that her superiors were right to put them under surveillance.

"thanks. it was given to me by...someone." she replied, sliding her thumb through the two rings and letting the chain hang down. her eyes trailed to jin's necklace and she contemplated on complimenting it as well - it was a pretty little thing. however with how often she has seen jin fingering () it, she assumed that there was some personal and sentimental value attached to it and so kept quiet.

instead, she grinned at jin and also tilted her head to the side. "so when are you getting discharged? im probably gonna be here for a while, and i would like some company. maybe you can tell me all about how you achieved your shikai." she said, preparing to read jin's every action.

im sorry, kid, but it seems like im gonna have to keep a close eye on you.

Higgins noticed two people talking and decided to approach them. He recognized one of them as Phoenix, from the red braid; however, he did not know who the other person was. As he grew closer, he attempted a friendly greeting of 'hello'.

Jin smiled sympathetically, "I would keep you company, but as she said, I recovered quite quickly." She looked out the window wistfully. "The seventh seat gave me permission to leave when I pleased and I wanted to get some training in. Knowing that I've released my zanpakutou..." she trailed off. "It should be an achievement, but mastering the skill now just feels like another daunting item in a long to do list. I mean, I'm up to it. I know i can do it! But don't you ever feel like you have to keep running and running just to stay in the same place? Like in the real world story 'Alice in Wonderland'..." Once again, the pendant was in her palm.

"I'm sorry," she suddenly shook her head. "I'm normally not this expressive or open, or childish really, but just... so much is happening. And I thought I would be able to do much better in our last mission, but..." She closed her eyes before gracing her companion with a small smile and extending her hand for a handshake.

"Anyway before I ramble again, it was nice meeting and working with you, Arina, however briefly. I don't know why I told you all this, but now you know a little bit about how I think if we ever get a chance to work together again. It really all depends on the squad assignments."

"Phoenix! Right!" Castor scratched the back of her head with a sheepish grin. "I-I knew that. Just slipped my mind for a second."
She had a true talent for remembering the most useless of things. Faces and names, however, were things that she always seemed to forget only minutes after she first met a person. If ever in need to talk to someone again, she usually just waited until someone else addressed that person. But this time, she decided as she dropped her hand, she'd try to remember longer. Really.
"Ah, no worries, no worries. Then I just won't ask, eh?"
Castor has barely finished her sentence as she heard the hello behind her. Oh no. Don't tell me I need to know that one as well.
Hoping Phoenix would greet him she just waved a bit and did a step back.

Phoenix turned at the sight of Higgins' voice. "Higgins! Hi!" she said, a little too cheerfully. She wondered if she should say something about the fight against the Arrancar. Maybe not the problem she was having with what seemed to be an inner hollow that started afterwards, but at least about her kissing an Arrancar. "I uh, I'm glad to see you're okay. That fight was a little rough, wasn't it? I'm glad I was able to distract them long enough for our reinforcements to arrive," she babbled, hoping that answered any question Higgins might have without going into too much detail.

"Yeah, Thankfully it would appear that you are fine as well." Higgins turned towards the girl he did not know. "Hello, I'm Higgins."

Castor ignored the conversation while repeating their names in her head.
Phoenix, Higgins. Phoenix, Higgins. Phoenix, Higgins. Right. I can remember that. Tilting her head again at the mention of a fight, she looked at the gir-- Phoenix. She nodded. Phoeniiiix. Yes. A fight could have been the reason she was distracted. She did hear something about some sort of mission. But that wouldn't--

Hello, I'm Higgins.

Upon being addresses she immediately started grinning again. Hee. I wasn't even supposed to know that guy. Awesome.
"Yo. I'm Castor. Nice to meet ya."

"Well, I was looking for a person, and now that I have found someone, what do you two say to training a little bit?" When Higgins first saw Castor, he realized that he wasn't going to be able to talk to Phoenix alone about the attack.