[color=Orange][i]The Academy [/i][/color]
Years passed uneventfully and Ain found herself looking at the sky more and more each day. Life was beginning to get stressful. Her had been diagnosed with lung cancer from years of smoking and was currently going through radiation treatment for it. Their family was still going through the stages of grief and the current fad of dealing with the news was to constantly ask Ain about if she had made a decision about college.
"It was near time to be thinking about future and what sort of mark she'd try to leave on the world." They'd always say. Her grades had always been fair so there were a few possibilities. Each one however, began to sound less and less appealing the more she thought about them. She did not want to go off anywhere due to her father's failing health but it was beginning to become clear that he wanted her to go abroad.
Ain's father didn't want her to be there when the radiation affects started to take place. He wanted her to remember him in his prime. It was a pride thing for him. So a month after Ain graduated from high school she made her decision. She'd join the air force like her father had done.
Both of her parents were not very happy about this. They tried time and time again to talk her out of enlisting stating she'd probably never fly and only end up a mechanic. How that she'd always be moving and how she'd never really get to settle in once place too long. An always countered that their life had always been that way and she was not only used to it but wouldn't know what to do if she had a completely permanent home. After another month of arguments on both side Ain finally won the bout. A month after that she packed her bag and left for basic training in America. A few months afterwards her father would be honorably discharged because of the cancer and relocate with her mother stateside to Arizona.
Basics would prove to be rough. While she was used to the strict order of her father's home it soon became very apparent that her commanding officers were not exactly the fatherly type. In fact, it seemed that the woman was intent on making Ain's and anybody else's in their class a living hell. The drill sergeant that was assigned to them soon became known as Push, because it was widely thought that the woman would more likely push you over a cliff than help you down it.
Christmas leave was just a few days around the corner however and she'd be able to leave for a short stent to go home for some much needed R&R and visiting with her parents. Ain and the rest of her bunk mates were packing their bags with just that thought in mind when Push came in with her normal scowl and informed the group they'd be leaving for a week training session in Japan before Christmas leave. You could almost hear the collective inward groans that came from the bunk. Push also gave the order that the only thing they'd be bringing would be their basic assigned kits and that they left in five minutes.
Sure enough five minutes later Ain and her bunkmates found themselves staring into the belly of a cargo jet looking up at the devil herself. It seemed today would be a parachuting exercise. Ain and the other's had done para-training in the past many times already but today would be their first time to simulate dropping into jungle like territory. In the spirit of competition Japan had decided to host the little war simulation. It was also the reason Ain and her bunkmates were going. She was one of the few that spoke Japanese fluently enough at their school to be hosted.
The group filed in one after the other each giving wary glances at their drill sergeant and troop leader for this exercise. The cargo's engines began to whir and grind. Soon after the group had taken off and was on there way. Lilly, one of the more chatty girls motioned for the other girls to move in closer for a bit of recent gossip she had heard.
"You gals will never believe what I just heard." Lilly talked as loudly as she dared over the hum of the engines. She didn't dare talk much louder because of Push snoozing quietly in her assigned seat.
The girls that were close enough, including Ain, all leaned closer to listen in. Lilly always seemed to have the strangest stories. "Did yall know that Push was up for promotion into actual combatant air time?" Lilly informed them holding out one finger to indicate the one fact.
"Yeah right Lilly..." One of the other girls whispered. "She's just a driller." The group of huddled girls turned their heads in unison to look at the sleeping Push as if to try and figure out of the rumor was true.
"I'm serious yall. She was supposed to be one of the first women to go into air ta air combat!" Lilly said regaining their attention. "But instead she got into some bad politics and ended up here." The groups eyes widened and turned again at their troop leader.
"What ever you maggots are chattering just got you a few more days with out tents." Push informed them but kept her eyes closed. The girls gave Lilly a dirty look for the new tent less nights then settled back down.
[color=Orange][i]When they say jump... [/i][/color]
A little red light came on by the chute door and Push stood and began to adjust her gear and parachute bag. "Don't just sit there maggots! On your feet!" She commanded once she realized she was the only one doing so.
The rest of the women began to scramble to do begin their gear checks as well. Soon after the trained hands came by and did a double check on their gear as well. Meanwhile Push explained that the group would be dropping through rather heavy cloud cover and should make sure to keep their eyes on their altitude gear since they wouldn't be able to see the ground very well.
The girls nodded and slowly began to walk in two lines toward the back. The cargo jet began to rattle as it dropped in altitude for the jump. The red light turned yellow and the butt of the cargo jet opened up exposing thick clouds. Ain began to get a bad feeling but chalked it up to being the first cloud cover jump she was making.
The yellow light had a green peg come on beside it and the gear hands began to push out the supply crates the group would be using on their mini training session. Then the yellow light it self turned green and the jumpers filed out one by one from the butt of the cargo jet.
[color=Orange][i]...it's only a mater of how high... [/i][/color]
Ain never could figure out if she actually liked the feel of jumping from a plane. There was that momentary thrill of feeling like you were actually flying of course but as the ground rushed in closer the feeling soon always became a bit fearful with thoughts of 'hat if the chute doesn't open this time?'
In this instance however it was even worse. Ain couldn't even enjoy the usual birds eye view before the fear due to the clouds. It was like a super thick fog that seemed to plaster the parts of her face that was exposed with cold moisture. Flashbacks from the car wreck came. It was cold and wet then too.
Ain shook her head to try and calm her self. No sense panicking about a car wreck when she was spiraling down toward the ground at break neck speeds. Ain checked the piece of gear that measured her altitude. It be another minute or so before she could pull the release cord. She peered into the cloud cover all around her to see if she could see any of the others. The only person she could make out was somebody barely to her right and a bit below but she couldn't tell who it was. They waved and she waved back.
The blonde woman then turned her attention back to the altitude gear. The time was coming soon and she readied her other hand on the rip cord. In the corner of her eye she caught the other person pulling their rip cord and a fraction of a second later pulled her's as well.
She kept eyes on the person she could see in order to make very sure to steer away from them in case she had too. A large shadow passed over what she could see of the other person's chute. Ain had just a few seconds to wonder what the hell it was when a severed para-cord slashed out at her face drawing blood. The chute she had previously been looking at was now smothering her face and entangling it's self around her.
As the wind whipped around her, Ain struggled to get semi free of the obtrusive chute as fast as she could. She got her face freed just in time to notice that the silvery grey that had been surrounding her at first was now dotted and littered with pine tree tops.
Ain cussed inwardly as she lifted her feet to avoid smashing into one of the tall pines. The new chute however caught on the pine and the resulting force began to cause Ain to spin. This was good to free herself from the entangling chute but bad because now her own para cords were beginning to twist and tangle around themselves as well.
The blond girl now swore outwardly as she descended further into the forest below. She heard and felt branches creak, break, and groan as she came crashing down in an awkward spin. The pine's needles scratched the exposed parts, and the chute began to rip and tear because of the trees. The good news in all of this was that she was slowing down at least. Even if it was in jerky halts at a time. The now tattered chute caught for the last time on a sturdy branch and Ain's form jerked from the sudden halt in motion, bounced for a moment then finally swayed slowly to a still.
Ain coughed to try to regain the air in her lungs that had left from that sudden stop. She put a slow hand to her helmet as she turned too and fro still from the unraveling para cord. The woman looked around as she hung suspended on a tree. The forest was eerily quite and she held her breath to listen for any sign of the others.
Soon there were groans and sputters of feminine curses as the others did checks over their selves. Ain breathed in a sigh of relief to know that at least somebody else had made it safely to the ground. A knot formed in her throat at the thought of the woman who hadn't. Ain wondered if it was one of her bunk mates or not. She looked down and tried to judge how far it was to the ground from her current position. After realizing it didn't really matter and that there was only one way down, Ain took the pocket knife from her pocket and cut the cords to her harness.
She fell far enough for her stomach to momentarily end up in her throat but not long enough to do any more damage than the trees had already done. Ain landed with a unceremonious thump on the damp pine needled covered ground below.
"Marco!" Lilly's voice rang out loudly abruptly through the forest. It was a sound that was half greeted with laughter and groans. Some other voices in the distant even answered 'polo' in the same fashion.
All jests were silent however at Push's command of... "Shut it or I'll shut it for ya!"
[color=Orange][i]...but even then stars are going to fall. [/i][/color]
Strange noises were coming from the forest every night. One night while she was switching watches with another team mate named Lilly, Lilly was nearly crushed by a fallen tree. Ain had some how managed to throw both of them to the side in time to avoid it. However in the fall Ain banged her head severely yet again. The price of heroism and all. After the bang up the noises started getting louder and louder and Ain began to see a white masked figure on her watches.
The group chalked it up to the head trauma and yet again Ain was convinced she was seeing things. The next night the entire group was woken up by the death screams of some massive animal and a lightly falling snow. Shortly after the group was found and debriefed on the death of the one team member. The military filed it as a failed equipment death.
[color=Orange][i]Living a life of Duty-[/i][/color]
Ain graduated with honors from her training and college. She shortly after joined the American Air Force and became one of the very few females to fly a fighter jet. At the age of 23 she was transferred to an American air base in Misawa, Japan. There she joined the rankings of the13th Fighter Squadron also know as the Pathers in the 432d Tactical Fighter Wing . She among the others in her group flew fighter jets called F-16 Fighting Falcons. .
[color=Orange][i]Friendship Day and the final encounter and the final fall.[/i][/color]
It was May 5th, a day in Japan called Friendship Day. Every year on this day , Japanese Nationals and U.S. service members, government employees and their families officially celebrate their long-standing friendship by opening the gates of MCAS Iwakuni for one of Japan's largest air shows dedicated to enhancing the friendship of the two nations. The event however, due to recent controversy of noise pollution in the populated Iwakuni, was moved to a more ocean side location.
Ain and the other fliers had been practicing for months to entertain the citizens of Japan. They were rounding out to do another air trick when the water below began to burble and churn. The pilots began to relay information through their headsets back to the ground commander thinking a small earth quake had happened in the ocean.
The ground commander was just relaying that there hadn't been any reports of seismic activity in the area when a large black mass darted out of the ocean into the sky. One of the Japanese pilots swore then attempted to swerve to dodge the thing only to have to eject from his jet at the last moment.
As for Ain she had not seen the creature emerge from the depths behind her fighter. She HAD however seen a man floating on air in front of her. She was just about to ask her wingmate if she was seeing things when something smashed into their tail sending the jet nose up into the air. Ain and her wingmate got a face to face close up of the large pointy nose hollow as it's hand reached out for them. The wingman in his panic ejected quickly but at a weird angle. Ain wasn't lucky enough to even get that. The monster grabbed the jet and crushed it. The cock pit erupted into flames as a small feline shape barreled into the monster causing it to release it's hold on the erupting fighter jet.
The burning blaze of jet fuel and molten metal crashed into the ocean and sink. Ain died way before the heap of crumpled metal even hit the ocean floor.
[color=Orange][i]Rude Awakening - A Helping Hand[/i][/color]
Ain's spirit rested at the bottom of the ocean for around a several years. Her body and jet had been long recovered by the military and sent home for a proper burial. But there on the ocean floor her spirit remained for ever looking up at the rippling clouds of day and the stars at night. No matter how hard she tried she could never seem to breach the ocean's surface to see the sky clearly. It was something that always seem to make her heart sink.
Not that living on the ocean floor didn't have it's interesting moments. There were many days when she'd lay at the bottom on her back and watch the weird and abundant sea life going about their day to day business. Whale season was her favorite. The creatures seemed to have an innate ability to sense her presence there and always stopped by to say hello and sing for her. Or at least that's what she like to imagine that they were doing. It wasn't much company but it was enough to keep her from going insane.
She had just been lulled to sleep by their songs one night when somebody nudged her head with their foot roughly. Ain opened her eyes in shock and looked up at man dressed in what looked like black karate garments. There was a sword at his hip and he carried himself like he just might know how to use it.
Ain kept her eyes on the man as she sat up. She would have said something but air required for sound had long left her lungs so instead she gave an awkward wave in greeting after staring at him in puzzlement for a while.
He was obviously holding his breath and didn't look to happy about the inconvenience of it either. The man jerked his thumb upward indicating she should follow him up.
Not really having anything else important to do Ain did so. Once they got to the surface the man easily crossed the barrier of water to the air that Ain had never been able to cross. She tried once again and once again failed. She press both hands against the ocean surface and it reacted like a glass barrier to her.
The man seemed to be knocking the water out of his ears when he noticed the problem. With a great sigh of annoyance he leaned down but his hand back through the ocean's surface and took a firm hold of one of her wrist. He then pulled with surprising strength upwards in one heave.
Ain found herself suddenly being pulled through the surface she'd so long been trapped behind. She locked her own hand around the man's wrist as he pulled her further out of the ocean and into breathable air. Ain stood there for a moment not letting go of the wrist afraid she might fall back into the depths.
"Lucky~" The man's annoyed voice rang out in Japanese accented English. He let go of her wrist and began to pick at his ear as if there was still water in it. He then turned and regarded her with a bored interest. "You are very lucky~ indeed." He said scowling at her.
"I...." Ain's voice sort of cracked from lack of use. She coughed to clear her throat. "I am?" She asked the man. She knew she was dead and she was fairly sure that wasn't lucky at all.
The clicked his tongue then shoved at one of the whale's that had come to inspect the scene with his foot. "Lucky you were found by a hollow first." He stated again in mild annoyance.
"Hol....low?" He could have been speaking greek for all it mattered.
The man clicked his tongue again and drew the sword. Ain watched with a confused look. "Doesn't matter now." He said turning it pommel side to her. He tapped her for head and her spirit began it's journey to the next life.
[color=Orange][i]Brave New World[/i][/color]
Ain ended up somewhere in the Midwestern Rukon district. The little area was known as gaijin sector. It was where most of the spirits that weren't from Japan but died there were sent. As a result it was quite the cultural hodge podge of shops, eateries, architecture, and crafts. The people charged outlandish fees for their trades. Especially for being so far away from the Seireitei wall. Usually area's this far out were beginning to just turn into slums. But because of the people's prices they had miraculously prevented this. In short, sweet and more simple terms, it was a tourist trap. A nice tourist trap, but a tourist trap none the less.
Ain had slowly acclimated herself into the little sector. She soon learned that the afterlife wasn't so much rainbows and fairy tales as they had told her however. It seemed even if you were dead you had to work for a living. So Ain, like the other dead masses of the sector did what she could. It wasn't easy by any means.
She soon found out that ego's only got bigger after being able to hone your trade for 100 years or so. That and if you look 10 it didn't necessarily mean you WERE 10. Then there was the strange little fact that nobody seemed to like it when you referred to them as dead. There were a lot of unwritten rules to learn every time she turned around, and THEN there were the written ones as well. People seemed to cluster into family groups that weren't really family and she soon realized that if you got hungry in this afterlife it meant something special. What it meant Ain wasn't entirely sure but people got weird dreamy looks in their eyes if somebody's stomach ever growled.
At first Ain thought it had something to do with the fact that most of the so called 'gaijin' here were cooks. Not just dinner cook cooks but the type of cooks that the living world made movies about. The type that put so much heart, thought and even soul into their cooking that not doing it would be something akin to not breathing for them. So in a world where not many people ate, Ain just thought the cooks were always just a bit too ecstatic at the sound of a growling stomach.
It would be one of these cooks that taught Ain about the workings of this world and gaijin sector in particular. Hugo Guyon was portly man with thick tan skin and dark brown hair. He was a French man who's English was broken at best and who's Japanese was just a hair better than his English. He'd been too delighted at fussing at one of his customer's for ordering a steak well done when Ain had happened by.
"You!" He had practically screamed at her in his thick broken English. "You look like a young American. Tell THIS MAN how meat of this quality should be prepared!" He was using his spatula like a wand pointing at the man who had apparently offended him.
Ain had been frozen like a deer in head lights from the initial out cry. "I...um..." She looked from the portly French fellow then to the offender, who just happened to be a shinigami. Ain had by this time been told of the shinigami. Well she'd been told not to get involved with them by most of the other 'gaijin'.
"Spit it out American!" The French fellow demanded and Ain forgot all warnings she had received.
"Rare?" Ain guessed. The guess was based mostly from the fact that what ever the French guy was serveing the shinigami looked like raw hamburger to her.
"YES!" The french fellow seemed smug and surprised at the same time. "See you shinigami?!" He said shaking the spatula heartily at the offender "Even Americans know this!"
The 'death god' gave the lump of raw tartar another loathing look. "Hmph. Then let's see her eat it." The shinigami said pushing the plate in Ain's direction.
Ain paled "Oh I'm not really that hungry thanks." She tried but was betrayed by the growling of her stomach.
"You will eat Hugo's cooking!" the dark French man ordered her delighted at having somebody else to feed. He even went to the length of spooning a large fork full of the stuff up for her as if to feed her himself.
Ain went to protest only to have the mush promptly put in her mouth. At first she panicked at the idea of contracting mad cow disease or something but then a funny realization hit her. What would it do? Kill her? To late mad cow too late! So instead she lightly took the fork from Hugo's massive paws and actually allowed herself to taste the much. After a moment her eyes lit up in surprise "Hey...that's not bad at all..." She said at the dark haired cook.
Of course Hugo had known this from the start. "See! What Hugo tell you?" He said taking the plate from the now interested shinigami. "Oh no! You go somewhere else. Hugo doesn't feed the cowardly!" The man's big hand rested on Ain's shoulder and began to direct her into his restaurant, nose high in the air.
[color=Orange][i]Le Petite Merle[i][/color]
After the initial meeting Hugo and his wife Marie basically took Ain in as was the custom of this after life as their daughter of sorts. Ain got a long famously with the couple. They were like her own personal soap opera. Constantly fighting and making up only to fight once more.
The couple owned a little restaurant called Le Petite Merle. The 'Blackbird' as it was called by the shinigami, was actually quite the gather place for the gods of death. They'd gather in different waves to sample the odd 'gaijin' cooking and especially the wine. It seemed that even dead people still liked to get smashed every now and again.
Hugo and Marie almost instantly decided to teach Ain how to cook. Or at least tried to teach her how to cook. The girl ended up making more of a mess than a dinner most times. Something that seemed to oddly amuse the owners rather than annoy. Hugo would always just tell her to try again...and again...and again.
It was one of those days of 'trying' that the matradee came rushing into the kitchen face flustered and short of breath. "We...we've seated a captian!!!" The woman sputtred out.
"A what?" Ain asked from her spot covered in a light dusting of flour and bread dough.
"A CAPTIAN you foolish girl a CAPTIAN!" the matradee said straightening out her uniform. Ain just sort of gave her a disgruntled frown.
Hugo used the spatula to rub his chin in thought. "And?"
The poor matradee's hands went up in the air in exasperation. "Hugo you've been here for 50 plus years and you don't know what a captian is?!" She all but squeaked out their impending doom.
The french man gave a hearty laugh "But of course!" Hugo said waving his spatula at the flitting woman "Do not twist your panties!" he added in broken japanese. It was a remark that earned him a swift knock over the head with a rolling pin from Marie.
"Du nut zay zuch things to je woman." Marie scolded in her heavy french accent. "Ju know Kikeo iz fragile!"
"What do I do?!" the matradee Kikeo said still fretting.
"Take their order?" Ain tried to suggest calmly not sounding too sure if that was exactly the right answer or not.
"I can't do THAT!" Kikeo actually squeaked.
Marie, Hugo and Ain along with the rest of the chefs exchanged a look of confusion. "Why?" Marie finally was the one to ask the question they were all thinking.
"He wants to speak to the chef!" Kikeo looked as if she might feint there and then at the thought.
Hugo meanwhile puffed out his chest like a proud rooster. He was able to take two steps forward when his ego received a smashing blow from a rolling pen known as Marie. "Ju can not go out there. Ju will only insult his undergarments like you do everybody elses!" She said delivering another wap of the rolling pen to his head.
"Oh ho? And I suppose YOU wish to go talk on our behalf?" Hugo asked his wife.
"Ov courze not! My Japanese is worse zan yours!" She said waving off his now confused look. "We send Ain."
"Wait what?" It was now Ain's turn to get nervous.
"Your language is on par with therez!" Marie said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"But...they want the chefs?!" Ain tried to remind the two.
"But sweet you are a chef!" Hugo tried to comfort Ain. Ain only gave him a 'yeah right' look in reply "Do not doubt yourself. Go you will do fine!" Hugo said ushering her out the kitchen doors into the front.
Ain stood frozen to the spot for a moment as all eyes turned to her and her flour covered state. She had the sudden realization that maybe jumping out of a plane was easier than this before Kikeo indicated she should follow her to where she had seated the so called captian. Ain followed leaving tiny puffs of white flour in her wake.
"Good evening sir." Kikeo said bowing, a motion Ain did too out of habit. "This is Miss Cordare." Kikeo said stepping aside to let Ain step forward.
It took her an awkward moment of realization that that was what Kikeo was actually doing before Ain actually stepped forward. "Um...hi there?"
The man seemed to be non chalantly reading over the menu. He gave Ain barely a passing glance. It actually would have been a passing glance if they'd actually been passing each other but since they weren't it was barely one instead. "Arn't you a little young to be a chef?" The man inquired in a slight monotoned voice.
Ain's mouth opened and closed quickly. She'd almost said something crass to the man. "Some might think so." Ain replied instead. She of course left out the fact that she was one of those that thought so.
The man gave her another glance then turned back to the menu. "What is edible here?" He inquired in a manner Ain instantly recognized as snob.
"Generally food." Ain didn't catch herself the second time. 'Woops...' She thought and stiffened as the snobby captain gave her a disapproving look. Ain then had the sudden feeling of being slammed by what Ain could only describe as numerous G-Forces in the back of her brain. She would have actually stumbled if it wasn't for the sudden appearance of Hugo's large hand steadying her.
"Ah so sorry to keep you waiting monsieur shinigami." Hugo said in his good mannerly voice.
Ain looked over her shoulder wide eyed at the cook that had appeared out of no where. What the hell had just happened to her? And how come Hugo was just standing there like nothing had happened at all? She looked back at the shinigami setting at the table. He had returned his attention back to the menu.
"Ain, Marie needs your assistance once again." Hugo said giving Ain a much appreciated escape. One she wasn't too prideful to hurry on about either. She gave just one more glance over her shoulder at the seated captain before returning to the safety of the kitchen.
That night while all the restaurant workers were a buz with gossip while they cleaned up and closed down shop, Ain asked Hugo a question she'd been curious about since the day she'd gotten to the afterworld.
"Say...Hugo?" She started out slowly dragging the mop across the kitchen floor. "What is it the shinigami actually do?"
Hugo looked up from his bookkeeping at the girl surprised. He rubbed his chin in thought. "Dey are like the militia."
"Militia?" Ain asked more curious now. She rested her hands on the mop in a cross fashioned then propped her chin on top to listen more.
Hugo nodded. "Dey protect the dead from the monstres" Hugo explained as he stretched his arms above his head. "From those called the hollow."
It was the second time Ain had heard the word hollow used. "What are the hollow?"
"Ey?" Hugo looked surprised. He then laughed his hearty laugh. He then shared what knowledge of Hollows he had with Ain. "I've have never seen them myself but I know of those who have. Say, you look like you've seen a ghost. What ever is the matter?" Hugo asked realizing Ain was matching the flour she was covered in.
"I've seen a Hollow." She said as the cold realization swept over her.
Hugo's eyes got wide like he might be in for a good story. "Oh?" He asked full attention on her now. "Must have been quite the ways off for you to be standing here." Ain shook her head like that wasn't the case and Hugo's face switched to one of concern almost instantly. "Just how close?"
"Close enough to wind up standing here." Ain said staring solemnly at the floor.
She let the meaning of her words translate in Hugo's mind and he whispered a few curse words breathlessly at the realization that Ain had died at the hands of a Hollow. He then laughed a bit shaking his head at the new information.
"Hugo?" Ain's voice broke into his running imagination. "How do you become a shinigami?" The girl questioned the cook.
Hugo sighed. "Wanting a bit of revenge are we?" He said leaning back and looking up at the ceiling of the kitchen.
"Wouldn't you?" She asked staring at the slowly drying trail of water that her mop had left on the tiled floor.
Hugo laughed a laugh that let Ain know that he would indeed. "I suppose you as a shinigami is all for the better."
Ain looked up at the cook confused. "Why do you say that?"
Hugo's face broke into a wide grin. "Because you have no talent for cooking."
---behind the scenes---
I'm too lazy for witty banter about the story.
so just enjoy the story,
the chaos maker,
KATIE
