“You wouldn’t be trying to sneak up on me would you?” Said a fairly older woman who was kneeling beside a rushing creek filling a wooden pale with water. She was garbed in an old and tattered kimono. Many of its faded pale yellow threads were torn and only a few glass beads remained attached to its back. Though her clothing had seen better days, she moved and spoke with a natural regalness. “I can’t believe that you’d come back to this place after abandoning us, Yorudan.”
As she stood and turned she flipped her twisted black and silver locks to one side of her face. “You can stop hiding no-“ To her surprise and dismay it was not Yorudan, but a large hollow. The beast mass towered above the forestry behind it. Its lengthy serpent like body and oni looking mask was supported by four small tentacle like appendages. It slowly crept over the rocky terrain which bordered the brook, hungry for the old and seemingly defenseless woman.
The beast barely made a few inches before she sprung in to action, leaping from the ground and flying through the creature’s midsection like a bullet through paper. It was only after landing that her body showed signs of its age, or something else that afflicted it. Though she managed to keep from dropping the bucket she fell to one knee as she grabbed at her lower back.
Like falling timber, the hollow was split in half. Its upper body and large head fell to the rocks below as its lower body began to deteriorate.
“If this was just twenty years ago-” As she spoke a vibrant red glow was cast on her body and the surrounding area. “Cero!” She shouted as she struggled to move. The sound of breaking bone seemed to offer her relief as a smile crept across her aged yet beautiful face. “So you were here after all Yorudan.”
She slowly turned to find Yorudan pulling his zanpakuto from the disabled hollow whom quickly dissipated.
“But don’t think that saving my life changes anything. You’re bringing shame on our family.”
“Grandmother, honestly, still wondering off on your own after what happened to you?”
“Don’t worry about me, I still have my family…but you have no one. No one but the Gotei 13 now.”
“I wish that you’d all reconsider your stance on my actions. Once I’ve succeeded-”
“Once you’ve succeeded you’ll what? Save us? Use your position to save us? We don’t need saving. Here I thought that your mother and father taught you that.”
“They taught me a lot of things, but I also learned many things from them that they never intended for me to.”
“Oh? So it was your mother and father that taught you to be a sell out?”
“You don’t understa-“
“Marimba-sama!” A distance voice shouted. “Marimba-sama! There’s been reports of a hollow in the area! Marimba-sama where are you?!”
“Yorudan, I can only hope that you’ll remember the lessons taught to you by your parents and gain the honor that they always intended for you to have.” As she stood she picked up her pale and began walking into the forestry towards the shouting voice.
“You really don’t understand Grandmother.”
“Save it boy. There is nothing you can say to justify what you are doing.”
