Playground Blues [Private]

Along the way to the restaurant Akane noticed a place of interest. A playground! She dashed over and looked around. It appeared to be part of a larger park area. People, mainly parents and their children, were enjoying the facilities. Kids played, in the sandboxes and on the wooden, plastic, or metal contraptions strewn around the area. There were even slides and jungle gyms. Akane’s eyes lit up and she made to close in on an empty swing set. But she stopped short when the grumbling of her stomach reminded her of a more pressing priority. ”After I get some food I’ll be back.” Akane gave the swing set a smile before turning on her heals and heading back down the road. Food first, then playtime. She’d be back and unlike the TV that taunted her with delicious looking food from behind an invisible barrier, the park wasn’t surrounded on all sides with such a contraption. Actually she highly doubted the park ever had a barrier around it at all. Which was fine by her. Though she hoped a barrier wouldn’t appear before she got back… that would just be devastating. Akane decided to double her pace. If a barrier did surround the park then she wanted to be back before it appeared.

Akane hopped up into one of the table seats and looked over the provided menu. Thankfully there were pictures of the food she wanted since she still hadn’t fully grasped onto the concept of words and writing yet. ”I want this please!” Akane stated, pointing to the picture of chicken nuggets on the menu.

“Would you like four, eight, or twelve pieces with that?” The waitress asked. She too was a bit concerned with why the manager had chosen to let them serve a lone kid like this. Shouldn’t they have at least tried to get in contact with the child’s parents first?

”Twelve please. Oh! And this too!” Akane pointed to a picture on the menue depicting a glass of orange juice.

“Alright I’ll be back with your drink order. The chicken nuggets are made to order so they’ll be a bit longer.” The waitress informed the girl, taking the menu with her as she left.

While she waited for the food to arrive, Akane grabbed up the provided crayons and started drawing on the pieces of paper left on the table. Her drawings were particularly rudimentary and clearly lacking in artistic talent, which was unsurprising for one such as Akane… But she set down the crayon she was using, her Fox ears popping out and she paused to listen. She could have sworn she’d heard something just then. “So lonely…” The voice whispered. Akane was utterly confused, looking around the restaurant to see if someone was talking to her. She even looked underneath the table but still couldn’t pinpoint where the voice was coming from.

“Please… I’m lonely…” Akane’s fox ears perked up again, twitching rapidly in different directions. This voice was starting to make Akane feel suspicious. It couldn’t be her stomach because she’d just fed it lots of nuggets… She looked down at her stomach just in case. Nope, definitely not the stomach. Akane shrugged and got down from the seat before trotting out of the restaurant.

A certain irritated waitress would be having a stern talk with her manager later that day…

Akane pushed her hands through where she suspected a barrier might appear but was happily overjoyed when she felt nothing but air. The park was still open and accessible! Rushing over to the jungle gym, Akane quickly climbed up to the top and dropped underneath, hanging on the bars. Her shoulder length hair dangled down freely as did her lulling tail. “Lonely…”

”Ah…!” Startled by the sudden proximity of the voice Akane forgot to hold her grip and fell to the sand below with a soft thud. Wheeling around onto her stomach Akane quickly recovered to her hands and knees, looking around. The voice was definitely stronger here but where was it coming from? Actually now that she noticed it, the playground was unusually empty given the current time of day. Akane’s ears perked and shifted towards the nearby swing set when she picked up the squeaking of rusted metal moving. There sitting on one of the swings was a boy, maybe six or eight years old at the most. His head was bent over and he appeared to be crying.

As any curious yet cautious fox would, Akane crept out from under the jungle gym and inched over to the swing set. Upon closer inspection it became clear to Akane that the kid wasn’t human, at least not anymore… She could see the chains of the swing through his body and even the bushes behind him seemed to show through his seemingly translucent appearance. “So lonely… why won’t anybody play with me?” Ah! Now that she could see the boy she quickly ascertained that he was the source of the unusual voice she’d been hearing in her head.

Akane Took up residence on the swing next to the boy ghost and spent the better part of half an hour explaining to him what Soul Society was like. ”And whenever Mitsuoki’s not forcing me to train with him I get to play with all the kids too!” Akane concluded.

“I see… That actually sounds like a lot of fun. I wish I could go there…” Though he’d been smiling while he listened to the girl’s stories, his face became mellow with sorrow at the thought of his permanence within the playground.

”I could take you there if you wanted! It’s lots of fun! I’m sure you would like it too!” Akane turned to the boy and clasped his hands in excitement.

Akane’s gesture and the strangely physical contact she made was unusual for the boy. Until today he hadn’t once met anyone who could hear or see him, let alone actually touch him. “Sorry but I can’t leave this playground…” He claimed, shaking his head.

”Of course you can! It’s easy, I’ll show you!” In her enthusiasm Akane grabbed the boy’s arm and tugged him off the swing despite his protests. Her efforts to move him went with little resistance, the boy simply sighing and let the girl pull him through the playground and out towards the street. Akane’s progress was going well until she got to the edge of the park, her grip on the boy’s arm momentarily letting go. “What’s wrong? Why did you stop?” Akane turned around in protest to the boy but stopped when she noticed the problem.

“Does… that mean you’re going to leave me…?” The boy muttered in a hushed whisper.

”I’ll be right back as soon as I find him, I promise.” Akane nudged her forehead against the boy’s in reassurance. It was a promise. She would find the Shinigami and she would bring him back to help out the boy.

“Okay… but please hurry… I don’t like being alone.”

”You can count on me!” Akane grinned, letting go of the boy and dashing off. She had a general idea of where the Shinigami was right now. Whenever he wasn’t out fighting hollows or sending off spirits he’d usually keep to a designated schedule and path for his patrols. Akane judged based on the location of where the sun sat in the sky and moved to intercept him.

Which… was a lot harder to do on foot when one had to obey the stupid street lights… Akane stood tapping her foot impatiently at one light, glancing around frantically to make sure she hadn’t missed the Shinigami. ”Ah…!” She spotted him jumping from one rooftop to another nearly as soon as the light turned green and proceeded to give chase. “Hey! Mister Shinigami! Wait for me!” Akane shouted once she’d gotten close enough to be confident in his ability to hear her. And hear her he did. He glanced down, noticed Akane, and turned back to continue his patrol. But he suddenly did a double take. This was seriously bad! How had Mitsuoki’s charge ended up in the Human world!? Worse still… she was talking to him which could only mean one thing… The Shinigami’s features turned deathly white as he halted his movement and descended to Akane.