My pain is real!

It was a cool afternoon in Karakura town and the town was lit with activity. The sky was clear with few clouds drifting lazily about and soon the stars would grace the impending darkness. The sunset had just begun and so the children were still at play beneath the orange and yellow cascade of color. Laughter and glee could be heard in isolated corners of the town, the populace gradually dissipating to their dwellings for their meals and beds. This was the time when the young adults found themselves coming out of the woodwork, some on dates and others just walking off their weary, dreary lives. Casual to all seeming, the night was glittered with possibilities.

'Click, clack, click, clack.' The hypnotic pace of a woman walking stirred, her white high heels letting her even stride continue audibly. Something to draw attention and yet none looked upon the arrancar femme. As a being of spiritual pressure, she found herself all alone amongst the thin crowd of people on the streets. Leisurely the arrancar stroked the long strands of pink hair that wrapped around her dress clad body. Seamless was her appearance and seemingly amused was her face. Upon the realization of boredom her mind had stirred with anticipation. Oh the possibilities of a night without necessity.

An arrancar, looked about dazedly through the night. The humans, the slowly setting sun, the smell of a cool eve on the streets. It was serene. The only thing that was missing was attention. Here she was, dressed in her casual best - the cloths she always wore, and not a soul could see her as she effortlessly continued her stroll. It was disappointing that the populace was so blind, that they gave her no mind nor anything to do. So cruel these humans were to her without ever having realized it. How dare they be so aloofly ignorant? Yumesade knew that she would have to do something to fix this travesty.

She came to a cross in the road no sooner than the thought had crossed her mind. The arrancar stood in the center and twirled slowly around, her brown eyes narrowed lazily in their careless gaze about. At that moment, they were struck with a harsh light. The light of a car speeding recklessly in her direction. The vehicle wisped by before she had time to make anything of it and then another car came with loud sounds and flashing lights. The car, labeled 'police' - whatever that was supposed to mean to her, was going just as fast as the first and this time the woman would hop into the air, grasping the structure on top where the lights flashed from. A loud voice came from a tiny speaker near her and her face lit up to the words. "Stop! Police! Pull over!"

With a look of glee the woman turned her gaze to the car ahead of them, the one that had nearly hit her in it's carelessness. A soft voice came as she thought out-loud to herself. "Oh.. you want to stop them... You humans make such excitement amongst yourselves!" Yumesade laughed softly, covering her mouth with her wrist. "How fun! I'll help you Police-san! The hand near her mouth turned up-wards and a small crimson orb sparked to life with white streaks swirling within. It glittered like a gem from a ring and without much thought she held it in front of her. The cero fired and the car in front of them took a sharp turn around a corner. The cero struck a building and it exploded, the store's front collapsing into smoking rubble. The police car skidded to a stop and two men jumped out, jabbering on as Yumesade stared in surprise after the other car. Emiko, standing a mere 3 blocks away from the commotion lay dormant in her bed unaware of what went on.

"What are you doing!? You're letting them get away!" She whined, firing another cero down the street. This one hit it's mark and the car exploded. The arrancar laughed joyously at the display. It was so beautiful, who would have guessed that the humans rode around in combustible vehicles? As the policemen scrambled about in their confusion the woman hopped from atop their car and stood, marveling at the scene around her. The men seemed quite frantic by now and the woman didn't have a care in the world. She'd done her good deed for the day in her mind, completely oblivious to the fact that she had killed a few people in the process. It really didn't matter anyways, even if they couldn't see her they gave her handiwork all kinds of attention now. Yumesade was one decidedly happy arrancar. It was nice to be appreciated.

Shopping by herself was one thing, but when you were in a store of a crap ton of people, there was always the possibility of being claustrophobic; especially when many of those people were your own classmates. There had been word during break in class earlier that day that there was a new manga coming out and it was written by the same person that had written her favorite story; not to mention it was drawn by one of her personal favs as well. This was just a double dose of goodness for the foreigner.

She was first in the store after school broke out, and the first at the shelves. She was not the first to buy by any means, especially when there was a line out of the door. The store was smart and ordered more copies of the manga than was necessary, which was good because Ziva had bought the last two. She was going to give one to the guy in school she had a crush on. Maybe.

Loud explosions and screaming from outside of the store lifted her head from grabbing the paper bag from the merchant and stuffing it into her school bag that was resting with a long strap across her mid section at an angle. Her attention went to the running people on the side walks, the onlookers that just had to see what was going on. Ziva rolled her own eyes and stepped through the door with Emiko following behind her whilst fixing her robe.

She felt the air first, a weight upon it that she would have normally left to the excitement in the air. Unfortunately, that weight belonged to a source that was standing by. Ziva first locked those whiskey eyes upon a white haired woman, in white heels and a white dress. She seemed over joyed about the huge fire from the car, the police trying to get people out of the way, the crowd that was growing thicker by the minute.

"What the.. nevermind." Emi was beginning to learn at a young age that sometimes it was best to leave your nose out of other people's quirks and just do your own thing. Unfortunately, the explosion and the woman were along her way to the base she had to go to; her home.

Steps carried her with simple stride, taking little interest in the uproar of sirens and people trying to get closer to the fuss to see what was going on. As she walked by the taller woman in white, her head turned just barely so that her golden gaze could settle upon the woman, behind a brush of deep, dark brown hair that was black in the low lights. She didn't say anything to the woman, just looked at her long enough for the eye contact to be made. Emi felt something odd and strange about the woman, like what she was looking at was some sort of secret that not everyone knew about. A famous person trying to be discreet (yeah right), or a sociopath delighting in her new work. "God, this country is strange sometimes...."

A silent fascination began to grow among the gathering crowd and Yumesade's ego was thoroughly enamored in the various reactions her scene drew. The vicarious masses seemed to get the same thrill as her for the most part and yet with a mascaraed of empathy as their guise. It was cute, like little kids stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. It was the guilty satisfaction that they all felt that was in the air. Humans were just like arrancar with a side of reservation to go with their bloodthirsty nature. They saw themselves as so 'good' that understanding their own natures was beyond them. It was easy to see from a third party's eyes. Even from the eyes of one such as Yumesade who only skimmed the surface of the tides of tendency.

Gradually the crowd grew further and as the arrancar reached the zenith of her appreciation high, she met a glance from a young human woman. This was something that often would have meant little to her, but there was that nagging question.. Could this girl see the spiritual being among the crowd? The trickle of delight never left her eyes as Yumesade began to walk in tow of the girl. Her nails moved on their own to stroke her hair as one could imagine an older man doing with his beard. The smile on her face could mis-lead but the arrancar did indeed find herself in thought. It was the sort of thought that shown like an overcast day for the cloud of reflection broke into a rather warm and cheerful voice.

"You there! Girl! Who are you? Can you see me?!" The final thought chimed out with a particular ring of excitement. It had been a long time since Yumesade had encountered something other than a hollow that took note of her and those ghastly creatures always wanted a snack or something of equally disgusting proportion. It left a sour layer on her pride to know that she had once been as mindless as such creatures and so a change of pace was just what she needed. To know that she could interact with something beyond the limitations of basic instinct and endless habit. Not that she found humans to be free from habits, however she'd never gotten to know one and so she simply wasn't sure what sort of habits these creatures would develop.

The arrancar's stride hurried a bit, her thoughts drifting away as she awaited a response. Perhaps this human would give her what she wanted, she did have lovely hair after-all and everyone knew that someone with nice hair had to be a nice person underneath too. If they weren't than they should just as well go bald. Avoid teasing the world with a lovely display that didn't reflect an equally alluring persona. The stride remained even as she attempted to advance for the mysterious human before her. All she could do was wait and ogle the girl's hair like an old man and the school girls in those uniforms.

Emiko wasn't the kind of girl to stick around and gawk at other people's expense. She wasn't that kind of sadist. The fact that other people were curious, taking pictures, and laughing made her sick to her stomach. Emi was raised better than that; to not wallow in someone else's pity, to not take joy in another person's pain. The fact that many people were like that went to show just how shallow and lonely people had become; Emi was saddened by such things. She could feel the woman getting closer to her even though she couldn't see her. It had nothing to do with the level of power between them, nor had it anything to do with shadows on the side walk; it was just that inkling, that intuition that trained soldiers got when the enemy was just behind them and they had moments to react that would mean life or death. "You there! Girl! Who are you? Can you see me?!" God, she was one of those things? Ghosts or something. Ziva gave an inward groan and she thought she was going to hurl.

"If yer asking that, then that means not many people can, and I don't like to talk to myself, which is how others will look at me. So, speak your piece and lets move on." It was muttered just barely loud enough for the white haired woman to hear her. Ziva didn't like the idea of talking to herself, and she was sure to those people that couldn't see the White Lady, that was what she looked like. Oh yeah, and she wasn't speaking in native Japanese either; damn American's. Ziva soon turned a corner that lead away from the scene that was drawing crowds and news footage for the evening updates. She did not need to be seen among that riff-raff. It was on her way to the base as well; which was another mile and a half and she'd pass the park and a few other town hot spots that her classmates like to go to after hours. The weekend was coming and there were sure to be people ready to stay out late. At least here it was easier to talk.

Emiko stopped where she was, turned in military fashion a clean about-face and pulled the phone from her pocket. She lifted it to her ear and stared straight at the white haired woman. With a flat tone, her whiskey gaze staring into the Arrancar's own she spoke as plainly and simply as possible. "What do you want?" Yeah, she was not too enthused about the ability to see ghosts. With the phone out, it would look like she was talking to someone on the other end and no one would be the wiser.

Amalthea had come to the human world on a information gathering mission, there had been reports of strange spiritual pressures in the area and she had to find out what they were. There had been speculation on what they could be but with how things were right now they couldnt be too sure about anything. Amalthea had been wandering around the town for most of the day, suppressing her spiritual pressure so that it would be harder for people to sense her. Amalthea had almost forgotten what it was like in the human world, everything seemed so different from when she was alive all those years ago. There were alot of things that ran off of electricity and that were really small, they didnt really make sense to Amalthea as it was. Amalthea had noticed that a few people around the town looked at her, as if they could see her which wasnt all too suprising in itself but the number of people was a bit of a suprise.

Amalthea knew that in her Shinigami uniform she stood out if people could actually see her but she wasnt too worried, most people would just pass it off as something else. It had taken alot of the day to finally find a trace of the strange spiritual pressure, it was rather hard to find while Amalthea was keeping hers as low as possible. She came upon the pressure as she had been walking down a busy street with shops on either side which were extremely busy with the evening rush. She felt the spiritual pressure and then heard a loud crashing sound from not too far away followed by a great explosion. Amalthea quickly ran over in that direction and saw the carnage of the destroyed store and the remnants of the car which had blown up. Amalthea could still feel the pressure, if only just, but she couldnt pin-point it, looking round she couldnt see anything through the crowd that was gathering. Emiko's expression of her feelings at the time couldn't transcend what she was actually feeling because of the Arrancar and his rude behaviour.

Amalthea used her Flash Step in order to move as quickly as possible from the street to the roof of one of the nearby buildings. It was then that Amalthea spotted someone that seemed out of place, a woman wearing white who seemed all too happy at the destruction. By this point Amalthea had pretty much stopped suppressing her spiritual pressure as she watched the woman. She then saw the woman start to follow someone and followed the pair of them, keeping to the rooftops to try and stay out of sight. The arrancar's stare turned quite inquisitive as the girl she followed spoke. It was a foreign concept, to care about what other people may have thought, but one that she was able to wrap her mind around to some degree. She felt that way about her looks after-all, so she supposed it could apply to one's behavior as well. It must have been hard to have been one of the masses. The poor humans had such expectations to live up to it seemed. For once Yumesade felt almost relieved to be an arrancar. Acting civilized in and of itself made one stand out among that crowd.

The pair rounded the corner and the girl put a strange device to her ear before talking. To this, the arrancar stared at her like she was insane. She had no idea what in the world the point of the thing was but she assumed humans were strange enough to begin with. It surely had some off the wall purpose or she wouldn't have done it. "What do I want?" Yumesade echoed the girl's question in thought. She hadn't really thought about it until that moment. Just then, the girl's previous remarks came to mind and the arrancar took a big warm smile, still a bit starry eyed as she forced her gaze between the human's hair and whiskey colored stare. Her voice came with a warm trickle of excitement mixed with a matter-of-factly embrace of interest.

"Well, I want to be your imaginary friend!" There was a quick pause before she continued, so that her words had a moment to sink in. "You see, I've been at a loss for what to do in this town tonight. I was all alone, with no one to talk to, I helped Police-san stop the people he wanted to catch and then, to my surprise, I found you!" The smile grew and lit her face as if she were attempting an appeal of good will. "So now we can be best of friends! We can share hair secrets, talk, walk and do good deeds like the one I did earlier. What do you think Human-san?!" With that, Yumesade was silent with a look of anticipation on her face. The thought had never crossed her mind, even with the obvious tones, that this girl would not be interested in the proposition. It must have been a strange sight for the looming presence on the rooftop. An arrancar with such a seemingly sunny disposition who seemed to make no note what-so-ever of her acquaintance's race. Further, one who was completely oblivious to the shinigami even though she'd ceased concealing her reiatsu. Having a weak suit for sensing reiatsu was at fault for this occurrence and then, being excited made it damn near impossible for her to take note. Another presence, one of possible threat, was the last thing on her mind at that instant.

The moment the second 'imaginary' figure had ceased keeping herself hidden from spiritual sensing, Ziva had turned her head up in that direction as if she just knew what was going on. You see, Ziva had no idea about all the "fun" things that the town had in its recent history. She didn't know about all the people and the crap they could do. So, standing in that popular park while staring at the White Lady and 'talking' on her phone, made perfect sense to her. She listened to the woman and her little speech about helping the police. That golden gaze seemed to darken then. "I see. You're the one that killed the people in the other car, destroyed public property, endangered the lives of countless others, and made headline news because you wanted to help law enforcement on a job they could have taken care of themselves." Ziva paused for a moment. She had spoken with a clear tone, in an attempt to make the woman learn about what she had done and to know that what she did was wrong; on many levels.

"I don't need friends, let alone the imaginary kind. So, if you would be so inclined as to bugger off, that would be fantastic. I do have a lot to do and a certain time frame this evening to do it all in. Maybe you should go to a shrine and repent for your murders." Ziva gave a little turn of her head that caused those long strands of deep brown and black hair to shift in the wind. The dimming light caught some of the strands and they glittered like copper, onyx, and topaz. "Ciao." She said as she turned, waving a dismissive hand in a sort of farewell and clipped her phone shut while shoving it in her pocket. Ziva had no intention of being caught up in whatever craziness this ghost lady was talking. No way.

Amalthea could only just hear what they were saying from where she was but none of it really made sense to her. Amalthea didnt have a clue what had happened or why these two were talking so casually at the moment but Amalthea didnt really like it. She heard the woman in white say something about being the other womans imaginary friend and that they could help people like what she had done earlier. Amalthea was still unsure of what this woman was otherwise she probably would have attacked by now but as things were she kept her distance. Amalthea had just thought that this woman was like the other, a human but with a strange spiritual pressure. Amalthea then heard the reply of the other woman and was shocked that someone would be so blunt like that, it did however seem like she was working to a certain schedule and that she didnt want to be side tracked. Amaltheas short hair flitted infront of her face for a moment with a small breeze that swept over the area. For some reason it suddenly felt colder to Amalthea, she didnt know why but she just passed it off as the time of day or year. Amalthea heard the other woman say something in a strange language that she had never heard before and turn to walk away. Amalthea couldnt help but think that this woman could sense her but the woman in white couldnt, if she could see her was another matter though.

Yumesade cocked her head to the side, the perky expression faltering ever so slightly as she listened to what her new acquaintance had to say. It gradually dawned on her.. she was being lectured.. This was something that grated casually on her nerves, she had no idea humans were this self righteous. As the human continued her temper began to spark beyond the arrancar's thin veil of control - however - it was then that she was struck by the sight of that hair. Starry eyed Yumesade's expression perked right back up. It was now a torrential whirlpool of love and hate that lie in her eyes. At this point the other woman's hair was the only thing keeping her from getting physical. To be dismissed, lectured, belittled and then have it all dropped as if it were nothing. Even with the saving grace of gorgeous hair, this human had assuredly struck the arrancar's bitch switch. How this was going to show was the only thing that remained..

"Yes, I did do all those things.. but you.." The woman growled softly, a smile still on her face with a defined aura of blood-lust in her eyes. "You are a dismissive, revolting little witch! How dare you tell me to repent!? I helped those stupid humans and they were going to let their prey get away! I created a beautiful scene for everyone to enjoy AND I took the time to try to mingle with you, you brat! Now apologize or I'm going to make you eat your words!" The outburst came with little warning and Yumesade's reiatsu began to flare without a thought to it. At this point, it would be clear to the spiritually attuned that this was no ordinary human or ghost. The feel of rage and desolation filled her grim energy as it flared from her body. She was ready to pounce - to tear those gorgeous strands of hair from this human's undeserving head. Usually the arrancar would have been more casual with her words as her temper more often took hold of her actions instead of words, but she wanted an apology. She'd been so nice to this human only to have it thrown in her face. How dare she do such a thing!? It was written all over that sadistic rise of expression on her face.