The Reformation of a Thief

Garuda never went to the Rukongai that often, but when he did go, he would be on a semi-patrol. As the acting captain of the 5th Division and Kido Corps, he never got as much time as he did before, when there was a captain to actually be there. Instead of wearing his Shinigami traditional robes this time, he wore something a little more plain: a red kimono top and white pants to match (similar to his face-sake's regular clothes). With him he carried his zanpakuto (obviously) and a bento box for lunch. It was a loaded bento: basmati rice, teriyaki-prepared eel, red miso soup, a panko-crusted chicken breast, half a tangerine, pickled ginger, and an extra dish of plain white rice to go with anything that was left over. It was held in a traditional lacquered box, sealed tightly to keep the contents from leaking or moving around.

It is a couple hours into his "undercover" patrol, just walking around, talking casually to the other citizens within, hearing about their day... It was just a leisurely stroll to those who noticed him. He also spent freely, buying some food to hold him over until lunchtime, since he skipped breakfast; he often paid a little more than the asking price, but no one questioned it, especially since he wore his lieutenant's badge. The Rukongai always felt like a second home to Garuda, so why not give back to the community by more than just protecting them militarily?

A couple hours after midday, Garuda seats himself on the outer boundaries of the Rukongai, leaning against a tree to eat his meal. He opens the seal and reveals the steaming food to the air, laying it on the soft grass in front of him. He crosses his legs, offers a silent prayer of thanks, an itadakimasu and he digs in, starting with the red miso soup. Just listening to the wind blow as he ate slowly was enough to put him into a waking dream, almost sinking into a Jinzen meditation; dark clouds seemed to move and blot out the sun, but Garuda knew it was only the trance he put himself in as he ate. Tatsumaki watched with foreboding eyes in the cloud. All this only Garuda could see, but he was still wary about the outside world, such as the presence of a person approaching him as he ate...

She was starving; she hadn't eaten in days and as she limped through the streets, her katana in hand. Nier sat down against a wall; the past weeks had been horrible, hollows, masses of people, shinigami. She feared them, even if they had never done anything against her, but they were observant, and they knew that she was able to use reiatsu. She presses a dirty hand to her growling stomach and groan, she was so hungry it hurt, or maybe it was just the kick the man had dealt her the previous evening. She pulled her ragged clothes tighter, they barely kept together.

She got up again, walking towards the river, maybe she could be lucky enough to catch some fish, it was better than the nothing she had now. The hissing voice told her that she had to eat or she would be even weaker. Nier took some of her herbs and chewed on, the bitter taste managed to ward some of her hunger go away, but she knew that it was only very temporary.

As she cross a street she sees in the distance, a man dressed in clothes that really didn't fit in these parts of Rukongai, his clothes were whole for one, and second, he had a bento-box.

She hated stealing, but she was too hungry and knew that she would only get weaker and she needed the energy to heal. She slunk silently toward him; the redhead seemed to be sleeping, her dirty feet barely making any sound. The bento box was sitting on his left, and she sneaked her hand towards it.

"You know," he says, the images in his mind clearing away to bring him back to reality, "all you had to do is ask." Garuda looks over his shoulder to the dirty ruffian as he (thinking it's a he) reaches towards the food. Without hesitation or a word, Garuda graciously turns over his extra dish of rice and one of the breasts of chicken. He digs through his pack and hands over a spare pair of chopsticks as well. "Eat heartily, friend," he says, returning to his soup. "Afterwards, I can pay for you to go to a bathhouse and clean up, if you'd like." He turns to face his would-be assailant and thief, and he notices the katana at the ruffian's side. "After we eat, I wish to test your skills. I may be a lieutenant, but I can feel potential in you."

Garuda finishes his soup and moves to his own rice, pairing it with the eel. He eats slowly, savouring and appreciating each bite. He looks up to the swordsman's face, and something does not feel right, his eyes attempting to peer through to see if it's something about the swordsman's body. The black robes hide any contours that could be found, and his face, though effeminate, was thick with dirt. Maybe he would learn during their fight? Only time would tell. Tatsumaki was leaning against the tree, but, in the spirit's excitement, the sword falls down. Garuda catches it with his fingertip and lays it down on the ground next to him, making no aggressive movements.

Nier looks at him, her hand stopping just above the bento, instead of hitting her or yelling at her he offers her chopsticks. She accepts them; she is after all starving, and sits down a few paces away keeping her eye at him as she devours the food. She looks at him in surprise as he mentions a bathhouse and the fact that he is a lieutenant makes her uneasy. Her sword is next to her and she strokes the bare blade carefully, he probably expects her to talk. He looks rather kind, and since he is calm in his movements she can cap her fear for strangers, although she thinks that everyone is a stranger.

When the shinigami's sword falls from the tree it was resting against her fear takes the better of her and she bolts. Her feet carry her over the road and into the houses of Rukongai and she doesn't stop until she is sure she lost him. Her back against a sturdy wall and she slides down sitting with her legs crossed, looking at her trembling hands in shame. She had forgotten her blade, and not even the hissing voice can be heard now.

She nearly started crying but she couldn't give sign of weakness, they would take her then, use her kill her all over again. She simply sat there staring, shamed for her inability and losing the only thing that kept her safe.

Garuda's eyes widen as his speed, mostly generated from his legs, carry him off. He looks over to the ground where he once was, noticing he left his katana behind. Garuda goes to pick it up, but the weight is a great contrast to how it feels to wield Tatsumaki; it must be a zanpakuto, he thought. All of a sudden, as he takes a good grip of the sheathed blade, he drops the sword and grips his hand; it felt like something bit him, something fanged, but when he looks at the sword, there is no spring-loaded trap that was triggered or anything. It was just the plain sword. "Nippy little spirit," he says with a smirk. "Calm down; I'll take you back to him." Garuda finishes his rice and eel, then seals the box. He picks up what doesn't hit the ground that the swordsman dropped and picks up the dark zanpakuto.

Where the man hides, Garuda appears upon the rooftop above him. "You forgot something," he says, waiting for the man to look up, showing him the rice dish, his chopsticks, and the katana he left behind. "You should be more careful." Garuda jumps down and lands on his feet gracefully, extending his arm to return the three items. "If you leave a zanpakuto behind like that, you make the spirit resentful and less willing to cooperate with you." Garuda's own zanpakuto was tied to his sash. "It is also not very well-mannered to just dump your rice on the ground; the birds will enjoy it, for the most part. There is still some inside that didn't get dirty. The chicken is fine as well."

After he takes the food and his sword from Garuda, he sits back against the wall and starts eating again, as if nothing happened; Garuda pats the ground next to him. "I'm not an aggressive man," he says, honing in on the reason why the swordsman bolted. "And don't worry about my rank in the Gotei 13. I'm actually the acting captain of the Kido Corps, so my sword skills aren't exactly perfect, but I make sure that they're as sharp as my sword." Garuda eats as if nothing happened, eating his chicken breast with some of the pickled ginger. "You want some?" he asks, referring to the ginger.

Nier looks up at the man, her heart speeding up dangerously, and she is shaking, the redhead has her katana in his hand, and the food she left behind. She is shocked when he simply gives her the things back. She takes her blade first, caressing the blade with a silent sigh of relief as the hissing voice starts to bellow at her about abandonment and the challenge it gives her.

Her stomach growls at the scent of food and she takes the chopsticks and eats the food again. Nier still keep her eye on the redhead, he is sitting on her blind side making it harder on her, her hands are still trembling slightly. She takes a bit, savoring the taste, the things she had eaten through the years were usually tasteless and this tasted like real food, something she could barely recall from her mother's kitchen.

He tries to make her move closer, patting the ground next to him but she keeps her distance.
His promise about not being a violent man makes her realize that he is very observant, or maybe she is just broadcasting her fear that wildly, he isn't looking at her, he just continues to eat as if she never bolted. He then offers her some pickled ginger, looking straight at her. She declines his offer with a shake of her head without any sound.

"Alright," Garuda says, nodding. "It's probably better than the herbs you tried to use to hold back your hunger. It's still on your breath. It's probably better for you than them too." Garuda just wanted him to calm down and relax. Yes, Garuda must have been intimidating to him; he must be a rookie or grew up as an abused child. Sometimes no one grows out of being a rookie, and no one can truly grow out of dealing with such a painful experience. "Just eat and enjoy the food. There's no rush, no challenge, no payment. And then, you can head somewhere to wash up and feel a little more, for lack of a better word, human."

Garuda finishes his chicken breast in a few minutes after he sits on the ground. After all, the breast was cut in half; the swordsman got the other half. He uses his fingers to peel apart the slices of pickled ginger, enjoying the sweet-and-sour and the bit of spiced kick. Again, Garuda offers a slice of the pickled ginger to the hungry man. "You'll have to tell me why you don't want any if you refuse this time." It could either be an allergy, or he simply doesn't like it. One way or another, Garuda would get this person to talk, to at least get him to open up a little bit more. Either way, they would be locking up in a duel. Garuda wasn't planning on using any kido or anything, unless it was used on him. It would be between swordsmen.

He felt the slight tang of her bitter herbs on her breath; she covers her mouth with her hand. Nier wonders if he knew what the herbs were, she used them to keep calm as well; they took the edge of her fears. She was always careful not to use too much of them though, they could kill, and even if her existence was little more than a hell, she still wished to live. Dyeing might mean rebirth into that world, it was crueler than this.

The man tried to keep her calm, she remembered a samurai dealing with a spooked horse in the same way he acted around her. He stretch out and offers her the pickled vegetable and wants her to answer him.

The woman shakes her head, she hasn't spoken in a very long time and she isn't sure she can form the words he demands of her. The pressure to speak made her panicky again, but she realized that the man would simply track her down again if she left. Nier hadn't eaten pickled ginger before, how was she to speak? She breathe in a few times, then looks at him.

"n-not t-asted that," there, she had spoken, even if it was stuttered and barely audible.

Garuda nods and breaks off most of it, handing him a much smaller portion. "It's potent," he says, "but the flavour is much better. Give it a try." Garuda sets the rest of the pickled ginger he offered aside, as well as a couple other slices if he wished it, before finishing off the rest of it. He enjoyed this shy man's company, but there was something about him that Garuda could not figure out. It was intriguing him, to the point where he wanted to spend more time with him. The food was definitely helping to ease the tension.

Garuda finishes his bento in a few minutes after this, the pickled ginger still left for the swordsman if he wished it; Garuda did take another slice though. "Now that lunch is done," Garuda says, getting up slowly, "how about a friendly duel? I won't use any kido; it wouldn't be fair to use it. I want to see what you have in store. You could use the opportunity to get a one-way ticket to the Academy and learn how to fight better than you ever have. There are spaces for lieutenants and other seats, if you wish to try." Garuda rests his hand on the top of his katana's hilt. "I'll even go with only one eye," he says, "if you wish for a fair fight."

She picks the pickled ginger up with her chopstick and smells it before tasting it, sweet, sour and very strong, but it taste good. And it seemed to calm her stomach, just as the ginger she dug up in the forest. He kept still, which made her composed as well, she realized that she didn't what his name was. She takes another slice of the pickle placing it on a piece of the chicken. Nier is full, and even if she wants to eat she couldn't force another piece down.

A friendly duel? She hadn't fought a friendly duel since her death and she wasn't that sure that she remembered if there were any rules. She plays with the thought of simply refusing him, she wasn't sure that her blade would settle for that though. The disheveled woman picks the sword up pulling about six inches out of the scabbard and touch the edge feathery light with two fingers and the showing him the blood beading from the cut. Proving that her sword bit true and sharply, she stands up looking at him baring her blade, the dark material reflects little sunlight. Nier doesn't care if he covers an eye or not, she has fought people with two eyes and hollows with even more.

She stands looking at him, her blade in a defensive position, meeting whatever he has to throw at her.

"Hey now," Garuda says with a friendly smile, "that's more like it. Just for you, in the spirit of good will, I'll unsheathe my sword." Garuda holds his zanpakuto horizontally, turning it so that the point facing down. His scabbard crumbles into a fine powder and falls to the ground in a neat pile. "For anyone else," he says, "I'd use Tatsumaki as a club or a kendo stick." He looks at the black blade the swordsman wields, Tatsumaki sharing the colour. Within his blade, Garuda could see the moon very faintly, even though it was still in the middle of the day. "You may have the edge in this alleyway," he says, "but I could still see you, even if all the light goes out."

Garuda takes two steps forward and starts off slow, a few overhead swings with a couple of horizontal cuts. He picks up his pace slowly, attempting to help this swordsman break his shell and give it his all. Now that the man had food energy to spare, there would be no excuse for failing to comply. "I want you to fight me as if it were a battle to the death," he says as their swords create their own light. "I will not kill you, I promise, but if you do not give me your full strength, how will I be able to know how strong you can be?"

Being the acting captain of the 5th Division meant training the troops, making them see their potential and giving them the chance to exceed it. Whether it was a pure Kido Corps member or a guard who could wield a sword better than Garuda could, he had to let the kido user see his potential as a swordsman and the warrior see his potential as a wielder of magic. Garuda learned through trial and error how to bring out a person's inner strength; this was one of those ways: dueling.

Nier counters his blade, easily even; he isn’t using the speed he is really capable of and also that he didn't strike as hard as he could either. The woman simply speeds up , and the hissing voice in her mind is gleeful as she darts past his guard, and she touch his side with the back of the blade her silver eye looking up at him.

"not kill you," she stutters as she retreats back and stand with her blade in the defensive stand again, the hissing voice is rather jubilant as if this was a great victory or something, she ignores it, which makes it annoyed and petulant.

She waits for him to attack now, if it was a spar, wasn't this how it was done?

Garuda was quick to block the man's slippery attack, the swords connecting spine to spine. He smirks as he parries the swordsman, shoving him back. "I suggest that you stop ignoring the voice from your blade," he says, twirling his sword with a flick of his wrist before taking a neutral kendo stance. He then slowly shifts to point-at-eye position. "It is meant to guide you, to help you. It may try to insult you, but it wishes to preserve you and keep you whole, not to mention keep you alive."

Garuda charges forward again, this time giving a little more than normal. He starts with a slash that could easily be blocked, pushing forward and moving for a right-leg high roundhouse kick. If the roundhouse kick hits him, Garuda takes a couple steps back and allows him to return to his feet. If the roundhouse misses, Garuda continues his assault.

He spins to keep his momentum, exposing his back only for a moment. If the swordsman attacks his back, Garuda backflips gracefully, the edge of the swordsman's black blade merely shaving the back of his kimono. He would then kick him square in the butt with a front kick and takes a step back, moving back into the neutral position. If he doesn't attack, Garuda continues to push forward.

Facing his opponent, Garuda jumps forward, locking swords with the man once again, pushing down with an overhead strike, attempting to force him to one knee. "There is more within you," Garuda says. "I can feel it. Stop holding back out of politeness and strike at me with everything you have!" Garuda moves to kick the swordsman in the stomach. If the man uses his speed or shunpo to slip away, Garuda faces the man in whatever direction he appears from. If he takes the kick, Garuda will step back and allow him to come forward.

She sees his leg coming up towards her face and she reacts accordingly, she drops, rolls away, and jumps back onto her feet. She moves her blade against his back, seeing how his clothes is parted by the sharp edge of her sword, but his foot then catch her behind and she tucks her body into a ball and gets up on her feet turning against him slashing at the lieutenant's feet. She gets up and catches his overhead strike with her own blade her arms shaking with the force of the blow. He aims another kick at her and the air is expelled from her lungs with a grunt, her already bruised abdomen protested and she backs away with her hand over her belly, panting slightly for air.

He wants her to attack with all she has, he is taller than her, and have more weight, and he is, no matter what he claimed, a good fighter, agile, adjusting, he had probably studied martial arts under a teacher. She on the other hand, had learned to fight whilst doing it, and that was maybe the main difference between them. She knew how to fight dirty, but she would avoid that in this battle, she understood that it would be without honor at this time would be disfavoring the other warrior.

Nier close her eye, breath in, calming her senses, her eye narrows and she attacks him, her sword in her left hand and slashing his sword to the side and aiming a kick to his chest with her right foot. If he steps away from the kick she would follow that with it hit with the heel of her palm, and if he avoids that as well she would simply continue to attack.

Garuda smirks, quickly shifting to the defensive. He moves from two-handed to a one-handed grip, parrying the man's slash to his right side. He then slips to the left from his front kick, catching his palm strike by the wrist, stopping Tatsumaki as the edge just barely touches his clothing. "You shouldn't overextend yourself like that," Garuda says. "If I was any other man, you would be saying goodbye to this arm." Garuda throws him over his shoulder with the proficiency of an experienced Judo student. He backs away and allows the man to recover.

"Once more," Garuda says, moving back to his kendo stance, "give me all you've got. If you know only one way of fighting, use it. I will not hold it against you if the only way you know how to fight is to fight dirty, by throwing dust in someone's eyes or by using the environment to distract your opponent. I have a feeling it is already ingrained in your combat style, being from here. I forgive you if you cannot fight fair; the purpose is to see what you do know and then see if you are of Academy material."

The hissing voice is more of a growl now, it is angry at the man opposite of her, he shouldn't look down on her like this. Nier lowers her sword and sheaths it, making the voice growl an insult at her as well. It doesn't really matter; she isn't too interested in going to the Academy. The redhead looks surprised, annoyed and hurt at the same time, in a way how she might feel.

It would probably be impossible to hide among the ranks, among that many people and probably in close quarters. She touches her bruised abdomen lightly with her hand, it is painful, she keeps her eye on the man, and he still hasn't sheathed his weapon. She backs against the wall, leaning against it slightly, letting her body rest a little, her pulse is racing again.

"Stays here," she says bowing her head slightly to the lieutenant, she wants to thank him for the food but she doesn't find the words. It annoys her that she can't form the language, disuse making her voice unsteady and stuttering. Her heart thundering, she reach into her pocket and takes some of the herb, her hands shaking as she puts it into her mouth chewing it. Weak, so very weak…

Garuda touches the ground, and the pile of dust that was once his scabbard becomes his scabbard once again, a dust devil pulling the dust to the blade. He wasn't surprised or annoyed, because joining the Academy is a big step to take, regardless of skill; it takes dedication. With a calm lunge, he catches the swordsman's hand and takes the weed away. "You already had some real food," he says, putting the herb in his own pocket. "You don't need to suppress it again."

Something in his voice made Garuda wonder if this man was actually a man. There was only one way to test it, but he was not about to do anything to startle, offend or violate this person. "I still owe you a visit to a bathhouse to clean up," Garuda says, scratching lightly at some of the dirt on the warrior's face. "Do you know of any close by that you've thought about using or even fantasized about going to?" He asks this seriously, not getting too close to make the warrior uncomfortable.

She recoils from his touch, wishing that he hadn't taken her herbs; it was the last of them and she needs them to calm down. The woman is surprised that he doesn't react to her growing panic, and he even asks about a bathhouse, she don't know any, and even if she knew any she couldn't go there, she was a woman posing as a man. If they found her out it would be the same as then, and they would hurt her, kill her, pain, agony, death. She grips the front of her dark clothes, ice-cold terror in her veins, and she can barely breathe.

Nier turns away trying to walk away, shaking with the fear, shame and anxiety, she shouldn't be there, she should have left when he gave her the food, it would have been safer. She was a pathetic wretch, the hissing voice tried to soothe her. Maybe she should just use her blade to end her life and hope that her soul would slip away into nothingness, she was already empty.

Garuda keeps up with him, stopping him so that they remain in the shadow of the alleyway. He knew that the man did not like to be seen or noticed in the light. "Wait a minute," he says, gently placing his arm between the man and the exit. "I was rude, and never introduced myself. I am lieutenant and currently acting captain of the 5th Division, Watarimono Garuda, or the Wanderer. I was reluctant to join the Gotei 13 myself, but now I hold a position of power, a position that I do not regret earning. Come. Let's get you washed up and into some clean clothes. Call it my apology for insulting you and your sword."

Moving his arm, Garuda allows the swordsman to leave the alleyway. Garuda didn't know of any bathhouses nearby, but Garuda knew of a hot spring that was located within the Seireitei. "The only hot spring I know of is back in the Seireitei," he says, "but I have found a few nice springs in the woods to the outskirts of the Rukongai where the water is so clean that I used to drink from it before, during and after bathing. I can buy some soap and take you to one of the springs for a good wash, if you wish."

He stops her from leaving again, strangely enough her heart calms down. He has a gentle voice, and yet very stubborn, she glance down at her ragged and dirty clothes, she needs new clothes, but she lacked the funds. Then again, he would know that she was a woman, but she has the inkling that he would continue to track her down if she left, if not today, tomorrow.
He talks about the Gotei 13 so warmly it made her wonder if she might fit in there, maybe she could hide there. She looks up at him, nodding as a reply, if anything happened she could always use her blade to end herself with, this time she had the option. But maybe she could die clean this time, if she couldn't trust him.

But he was so sincere, this Watarimono Garuda, and maybe she dares to trust him. The hissing voice told her to trust him, that there was some strength in them yet, that they would be new again.

"N-nier, I am Nier," she says touching her chest. "I fear," she tried to explain herself to him, "can't stop it."

She nods at him, wishing for a new start.

Garuda runs his hand on the man's cheek, as if calming a child or a woman. "Nier," he says, "you don't have to fear. Nothing will harm you while you're around me, okay?" He gives the filthy swordsman a kiss on the forehead and leaves the alleyway with the man. "Now go find somewhere that makes your type of clothing," Garuda says, "and maybe some soap. I'll wait by the tree we met. I'll see you in a couple minutes, I promise." With that, after he hands him money for a change of clothes and for soap to wash with, Garuda uses shunpo and disappears.

Reappearing by the tree he was eating at for lunch, Garuda notices the sun moving slowly in the sky, the day continuing to wear on. It was a couple hours since Garuda sat at the tree last, so the grass he was sitting on was still slightly bent down. He sits back down in that spot, Tatsumaki screaming in his ear that Nier is a girl this and Nier is a woman that. Garuda shakes his head. "If that is true, then he will reveal that fact to me on his or her own. I will not make any aggressive moves to find out. If he is a woman, something in her death must have been very traumatic to happen in order to want to hide their sex." He says this before he/she returns, Tatsumaki's voice still rattling in his head.

He promised her safety, and he had given her a peck on her forehead, she absentmindedly touch the spot as she walks down the streets.

Nier looks at the money he had given her, it was a lot of cash, more than enough for new yukata and hakama. She wasn't sure where to go though, there was a shop but the woman that owned it had chased her away once. But she had soap and that kind of things as well, so Nier gathers her courage and walks to the shop, she shows the woman the money as she enters, and the elderly woman isn't reaching for her broom. The dirty woman points to what she wish to buy, and the shopkeeper ties a ribbon around the cloths and place the soap in Nier's hand, telling her that she didn't want Nier in her store grubby again.

Nier nods, smelling the soap, the scent reminded her of the small white lily-of-the-valley. She takes the clothes and leaves the shop, the voice mumbling about new beginnings and new heart. The woman silently agrees with the voice as she heads for the hill where she had met Garuda, she swallow with apprehension as she steps up to him, and her things in hand.

Garuda looks over his shoulder, seeing Nier approach. He moves to his feet slowly, using Tatsumaki (to the spirit's disgust) as a crutch to help him up. He turns to face Nier and smiles. "Welcome back," he says. "I hope you're ready for a bit of a hike. I know that food definitely helped you." Garuda starts walking towards the treeline, moving slowly to make sure that Nier was close by. "We won't make it there til sundown, but I doubt we will be disturbed. I'll stick around to make sure no one steals your things while you're in the water."

He always did enjoy the fresher air of the woods. It didn't taste as stale as in the Seireitei, although it was supposed to be this utopian area of prosperity. On bad days or busy evenings, it felt almost dystopian. Here, it was tranquil, with no threats beyond common thieves. Garuda did promise to keep a close eye on his things... her things... Tatsumaki was almost begging for Garuda to take the sword and cut the clothing from her body, but Garuda would have nothing to do with it. The full moon pierces the canopy until a clearing opens up, revealing a deep pool, the water undisturbed until the wind blows through the trees.

"It's more of a reflective pool," Garuda says, the moon perfectly reflected in the water. "However, the water bubbles up from underneath the ground, almost like a sinkhole. It's older than the Seireitei, and the water is so pure that it is often used for meditation through scrying." Garuda kneels by the pool and takes a sip, saying a couple words of prayer in thanks for such purity. "I'll be in the trees, resting," he says. "If you'd like me to scrub your back, however, let me know to stick close by."

Nier looks around her, this place looks like the place she often dreams of, but she have no memory of being awake here before, even the moon is there, a round perfect full moon. Had Garuda somehow managed to read her mind? She kneels near the water's edge looking at the blank surface.

The short prayer he says makes her think of her family somehow, and Amida Buddha. She pulls her rosary bracelet from her hand, the 27 mother-of-pearls beads' running through her hand with familiar ease, the tangle is worn though.
"On amirita teisei kara un, Amida Buddha," her fingers touching one bead at a time as she repeats the mantra over and over again.

She looks at Garuda's back disappearing into the trees and she pulls her worn yukata off, folding it as neat as she can. She then undoes the bandages holding her breasts in, looking at the scars over her body and the bruise over the left side of the stomach. The scars she hates the most are the round ones, they are here and there, five on each side of her body, opposite one another. The woman pulls her hakama off folding them as well, placing them onto the yukata, the mother of pearl is placed on top the new clothes. She then unties her hair-band and let the long hair fall freely down her back.

Nier steps into the cool water, taking the soap and a piece of cloth with her. She dips her dark hair in to the water, and then starts lathering it up. She ends up washing it three times before she is satisfied that the dark locks are clean and then continues to clean her body. Garuda had been right about needing help to scrub her back, but she couldn't call out to him. The hissing voice tells her that he already suspected her, and that he would find out sooner or later, probably sooner, that she really was a woman. She nibbles her lip scrounging up courage.

"Garuda-san?" her voice seemed to echo through the area, and she regrets it the minute she speaks.

Garuda sat in a tree close by, giving Nier the decency of not having a spectator; the warrior seemed shy enough. As soon as he hears his name, Garuda turns his head towards the pool and drops from his perch. "Yes?" Garuda says, walking up to the water. He takes a knee, and he notices the pair of firm woman's breasts. So Tatsumaki was right, eh? Fascinating find. "Would you like me to scrub your back now?" he asks, signalling to Nier to sit up on the bank. "Slide up here." He takes the soap gently from her hand and, after she sits back up on the bank, starts to work the soap into a lather before helping her soap up her back.

"I understand why you hid your sex from me," Garuda says calmly, "and it's obviously you speak much much better than you let on, Nier-kun." He looked over her shoulder, noticing a slight indent in her skin, perhaps a physical sign of the memory of her death. "I died in a tornado," Garuda starts. "I lived countless generations, remembering bits and pieces of each life. It was the tornado that decimated the city of Greensburg, Kansas, in the United States..."

"The sky was black and ominous," continues Garuda, washing Nier's back without so much as a masculine response to her toned body. "The clouds themselves were reminiscent of death; this wasn't the first time that God, or whatever took control that day, let loose upon the world. The funnel descended with a roar that would intimidate a lion. I was slurped right up into the maw of that twister, my body struck by lightning and mangled by debris. Slashed up by glass shards and grass blades, pelted by pebbles with the velocity of bullets: my body never even touched the ground until the next day, where I was already bled out and devoid of any life left. I wandered as a Plus until I was attacked by a Gillian. I tried to fight back, oh how hard I fought and ran and fought again. But it wasn't until a Shinigami, who was barely able to kill the Gillian, sent me here to the Rukongai. After that, it was another lonely life. Then I found Tatsumaki and things became more hectic. I became possessed by him as I slept, until I was able to control it. The scary thing about it is that I could have lost my soul and ended up like the man who became so dedicated to his jinzen that he became his blade..."