TREETOPSby rukia
"Rukia, this is a bad idea."
"What, I’m just curious."
"We have to bring this stuff back to the hut," Renji held the bundle of dry wood to his chest as he glared up at her, "Get down from there!"
"We’ve never been this close to the district 79 before," Rukia continued climbing; the tree seemed to be the highest one in this stretch of forest. "I'm going to see what it’s like."
"What is there to see!?" Renji hurled his stack of firewood at the tree trunk in exasperation, "It’s a wasteland! I heard that it’s even crappier than the slums here! Now, get down now before someone from that place sees us!"
Rukia paused, making certain that her arms and legs had a firm grasp of the trunk. Then she leaned back and called 15 feet down to Renji, "Make me, fool."
"That does it," Renji grasped the nearest sturdy branch and started pulling himself up, "I’m gonna kick your ass!"
"Yeah, right," Rukia renewed her journey up the ancient tree, confident that Renji would follow, "You can’t even climb properly."
"Maybe that’s because I’m not half monkey," he retorted, "unlike some people."
Luckily, this was a pine tree which they were climbing, so there were quite a few handy pinecones to chuck at the rude pre-teen. Rukia managed to perch on a sturdy branch before she plucked a rather large, prickly projectile weapon from nearby.
Renji yelped when the pinecone ricocheted off his forehead, causing him to nearly fall out of the branches. He glared at the laughing girl high above him, "Are you trying to kill me, dammit!?"
"Oh, a 4-foot fall won’t kill you," Rukia grinned evilly as she tossed a second pinecone from hand to hand with ease. "Especially if you fall on that big head of yours – you’d just bounce right back up again." Then Rukia looked away, watching something in the distance intently.
Unable to think of a witty comeback from several feet above the ground, Renji simply shut up and concentrated on how not to fall. The bark was rough and filthy wherever he touched. It left a terribly sticky residue on his hands which would take forever to clean it off. It wasn’t like clean water flowed freely in this area.
He honestly didn’t know why Rukia got such a kick out of being in high places. It’s probably because she’s so short that this is the only way she’ll ever feel tall, he concluded smugly, despite the fact that he still hasn’t had a decent growth spurt yet.
When he finally arrived in the higher branches, he pulled his wiry body up to a thick branch bellow the one Rukia perched on and looked up at her.
"Took you long enough."
"Shut up," clinging to the branch shakily, Renji peered out over the treetops to see what Rukia had been staring at the whole time.
There were no real barriers between each district, since no one usually left their designated living areas. Sure, some would leave their districts and traveled all across Rukongai, searching for lost family members from former lives; but for the most part, people just didn’t travel over the borders. It wasn’t a rule, but it was something unspoken, which somehow made it far more intimidating.
The exact border between the 78th and 79th district was also something unspoken, but even the two kids knew that this was the place: the thick line of trees which ended at the foot of a gravelly ravine.
The ravine was a barren, dry place. It acted as an irreverent graveyard for district 79, with bleached bones and fresh corpses piled around haphazardly. Infamous groups of bandits were known to pass through the ravine like wolf packs, wandering to other sections of the district.
"I don’t see anything interesting over there," Renji scanned the ravine critically. The only person he could see was a lone man near the center of the rust-colored valley, building a small campfire.
"You missed it," Rukia told him.
"Missed what?"
"The whole thing," she pointed to the man in the valley, about 200 meters away, "See that guy?"
"Yeah, I see him."
"See those piles of bodies around him?"
Renji cursed crudely in disbelief, "...No way. He couldn’t’ve –"
"He did. He killed all of them," she said with conviction. "It only took him 3 minutes with that crappy sword he’s got. I saw it all while you were still trying to get up here."
"Shit! I always miss the good parts."
"Sucks to be you," Rukia sympathized dryly. Ignoring his glare, she pointed toward the killer in the ravine again. "Did you notice the really weird thing yet?"
"What weird thing?"
"Check out his back. I noticed it was there while he was fighting."
The thin man with matted hair had 2 thin strips of cloth looped over his arms and under his armpits, while a thicker strip of cloth was tied across the midsection of his chest. The pieces of cloth were apparently being used to support the weight of something on his back.
When he bent down low to feed more debris into the fire, a tiny squirming pink figure bounced in the restraints of the makeshift carrier and wiggled its limbs in excitement. The sound of a toddler's happy squeals echoed across the ravine and reached the ears of the two children hidden in the distant trees.
"That’s a..."
"Yup," Rukia nodded. "Weird, isn’t it?"
He paused and tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, "...Think he’s gonna eat it?"
"That’s sick, Renji!" she bounced another pinecone off his head in punishment.
"Ow! Well, you never know... I bet you he’s gonna come over and eat us too if he finds us," moving cautiously, Renji began to slowly inch his way back down the tree. "Let’s get outta here."
Rukia shrugged; there was no point in staying up here any longer. She pocketed another pinecone for emergancy use and quickly shimmied down the tree, reaching the ground within seconds.
Gathering up the abandoned woodpile at the foot of the tree, Rukia started off towards home.
"Rukia?"
"What?" she glanced back up at the forest canopy.
"I’m stuck."
~*~*~
Fic inspired by the news that a certain someone is willing to write a Yachiru/Zaraki series eventually. ^_~
By the way, I'm sure there may be age/timeframe issues about this fic, but all I can say is this: Age seems to be pretty relative & flimsy in Soul Society, so I'm not going to worry about continuity in this case. ^^;
I've been listening to Paul Simon's "Father and Daughter" ever since![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
dosetsu mentioned it earlier. It has me thinking of the latest chapter of Bleach and I find myself getting all sappy whenever I hear the line: "There could never be a father who loves his daughter more than I love you."
"Rukia, this is a bad idea."
"What, I’m just curious."
"We have to bring this stuff back to the hut," Renji held the bundle of dry wood to his chest as he glared up at her, "Get down from there!"
"We’ve never been this close to the district 79 before," Rukia continued climbing; the tree seemed to be the highest one in this stretch of forest. "I'm going to see what it’s like."
"What is there to see!?" Renji hurled his stack of firewood at the tree trunk in exasperation, "It’s a wasteland! I heard that it’s even crappier than the slums here! Now, get down now before someone from that place sees us!"
Rukia paused, making certain that her arms and legs had a firm grasp of the trunk. Then she leaned back and called 15 feet down to Renji, "Make me, fool."
"That does it," Renji grasped the nearest sturdy branch and started pulling himself up, "I’m gonna kick your ass!"
"Yeah, right," Rukia renewed her journey up the ancient tree, confident that Renji would follow, "You can’t even climb properly."
"Maybe that’s because I’m not half monkey," he retorted, "unlike some people."
Luckily, this was a pine tree which they were climbing, so there were quite a few handy pinecones to chuck at the rude pre-teen. Rukia managed to perch on a sturdy branch before she plucked a rather large, prickly projectile weapon from nearby.
Renji yelped when the pinecone ricocheted off his forehead, causing him to nearly fall out of the branches. He glared at the laughing girl high above him, "Are you trying to kill me, dammit!?"
"Oh, a 4-foot fall won’t kill you," Rukia grinned evilly as she tossed a second pinecone from hand to hand with ease. "Especially if you fall on that big head of yours – you’d just bounce right back up again." Then Rukia looked away, watching something in the distance intently.
Unable to think of a witty comeback from several feet above the ground, Renji simply shut up and concentrated on how not to fall. The bark was rough and filthy wherever he touched. It left a terribly sticky residue on his hands which would take forever to clean it off. It wasn’t like clean water flowed freely in this area.
He honestly didn’t know why Rukia got such a kick out of being in high places. It’s probably because she’s so short that this is the only way she’ll ever feel tall, he concluded smugly, despite the fact that he still hasn’t had a decent growth spurt yet.
When he finally arrived in the higher branches, he pulled his wiry body up to a thick branch bellow the one Rukia perched on and looked up at her.
"Took you long enough."
"Shut up," clinging to the branch shakily, Renji peered out over the treetops to see what Rukia had been staring at the whole time.
There were no real barriers between each district, since no one usually left their designated living areas. Sure, some would leave their districts and traveled all across Rukongai, searching for lost family members from former lives; but for the most part, people just didn’t travel over the borders. It wasn’t a rule, but it was something unspoken, which somehow made it far more intimidating.
The exact border between the 78th and 79th district was also something unspoken, but even the two kids knew that this was the place: the thick line of trees which ended at the foot of a gravelly ravine.
The ravine was a barren, dry place. It acted as an irreverent graveyard for district 79, with bleached bones and fresh corpses piled around haphazardly. Infamous groups of bandits were known to pass through the ravine like wolf packs, wandering to other sections of the district.
"I don’t see anything interesting over there," Renji scanned the ravine critically. The only person he could see was a lone man near the center of the rust-colored valley, building a small campfire.
"You missed it," Rukia told him.
"Missed what?"
"The whole thing," she pointed to the man in the valley, about 200 meters away, "See that guy?"
"Yeah, I see him."
"See those piles of bodies around him?"
Renji cursed crudely in disbelief, "...No way. He couldn’t’ve –"
"He did. He killed all of them," she said with conviction. "It only took him 3 minutes with that crappy sword he’s got. I saw it all while you were still trying to get up here."
"Shit! I always miss the good parts."
"Sucks to be you," Rukia sympathized dryly. Ignoring his glare, she pointed toward the killer in the ravine again. "Did you notice the really weird thing yet?"
"What weird thing?"
"Check out his back. I noticed it was there while he was fighting."
The thin man with matted hair had 2 thin strips of cloth looped over his arms and under his armpits, while a thicker strip of cloth was tied across the midsection of his chest. The pieces of cloth were apparently being used to support the weight of something on his back.
When he bent down low to feed more debris into the fire, a tiny squirming pink figure bounced in the restraints of the makeshift carrier and wiggled its limbs in excitement. The sound of a toddler's happy squeals echoed across the ravine and reached the ears of the two children hidden in the distant trees.
"That’s a..."
"Yup," Rukia nodded. "Weird, isn’t it?"
He paused and tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, "...Think he’s gonna eat it?"
"That’s sick, Renji!" she bounced another pinecone off his head in punishment.
"Ow! Well, you never know... I bet you he’s gonna come over and eat us too if he finds us," moving cautiously, Renji began to slowly inch his way back down the tree. "Let’s get outta here."
Rukia shrugged; there was no point in staying up here any longer. She pocketed another pinecone for emergancy use and quickly shimmied down the tree, reaching the ground within seconds.
Gathering up the abandoned woodpile at the foot of the tree, Rukia started off towards home.
"Rukia?"
"What?" she glanced back up at the forest canopy.
"I’m stuck."
~*~*~
Fic inspired by the news that a certain someone is willing to write a Yachiru/Zaraki series eventually. ^_~
By the way, I'm sure there may be age/timeframe issues about this fic, but all I can say is this: Age seems to be pretty relative & flimsy in Soul Society, so I'm not going to worry about continuity in this case. ^^;
I've been listening to Paul Simon's "Father and Daughter" ever since
dosetsu mentioned it earlier. It has me thinking of the latest chapter of Bleach and I find myself getting all sappy whenever I hear the line: "There could never be a father who loves his daughter more than I love you."