damned_institute | Day 28: Germaine Street

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Day 28: Germaine Street

Rhode didn't want to have to let go of Allen, not ever. It could be forever before she was able to be with him again! But the nurses were persistent in moving her off the big yellow thing, as was Allen for getting away from her. Even outside of the building, people were just determined to keep her from being with him! It wasn't fair!

Once off the bus and shivering just slightly from the crisp fall air, Rhode was handed a small booklet of what the nurse called "coupons". It took some explaining, but Rhode was eventually able to understand that the thin pieces of paper in the book were supposed to be used like money here. She wasn't at all accustomed to buying things for herself; that was supposed to be the Earl's job. When Rhode expressed this problem, the nurse only gave her a sad smile and patter her in the direction of the buildings.

"Why don't you go find something fun to do? There's a toy store just around the corner there. Don't worry about being alone though, we're all here to keep an eye on you. If anything happens, just come get one of us," the nurse explained, nodding to the staff members that were set to parole the town for any problems their more unruly patents could cause.

So, they were all going to be watched even though they could roam about freely? Rhode took a look back towards the yellow things but was unable to pick out Allen from the mess of patients. In a few moments, she probably wouldn't be able to find him at all or for the rest of the day. Should she just resign herself to that for now and use the small bit of freedom to her advantage? Being with Allen was important, and a lot of fun but...

She glanced down at the coupons again, smiled up at the nurse as best she could, and gave a quick, "Okay!" before running off as suggested.

A small bit of freedom was bound to make her feel better. Maybe she could use it to remind herself of how she was supposed to handle Allen Walker, an exorcist. This town did have a similar air to that of the Rewinding Town, after all.

[went here]

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Ururu moved off her bus, and tried her best to get out of the way of others. She wanted to watch the people leave, to try and see Kisuke-san at last, to finally tell him everything she had learned.

But Kisuke-san didn't come out of a bus. Or he did before Ururu was watching. Or she hadn't seen him, even though she was watching very carefully.

But in the end, there was no Kisuke-san. Just a very worried little girl.

Ururu looked down, her mind desperately seeking a solution that didn't involve Kisuke-san being hurt or worse. But he didn't have Benihime or his fan or his hat, and who knew what had happened during the night when Ururu hadn't found him?

She knew well how clever Kisuke-san was. It was just easy to forget when she got worried.

"K-Kisuke-san..." Ururu sniffled, large tears welling in her eyes. "Where'd you go?"

Yuuhi's conversation with Haku had done plenty to unsettle him. Did the dead really come back to life here? And if that were so... if he could just find out how it was done, then maybe... maybe he had a real chance of bringing Fai back.

Unfortunately, before he could ask Haku many more questions, he was ushered off of the bus and given a handful of tickets. He had only taken a few steps when he noticed the little girl in pink and white that he'd seen before during Arts and Crafts. She was creative, he knew that much, but now she was distressed.

He wasn't usually one to meddle in the affairs of others... alright, so perhaps he was, but either way he couldn't just ignore a crying child in the middle of the street. He approached and got down into a crouch so he could speak at her level. Children tended to appreciate that, he'd noticed. He folded his hands in front of himself and tried to meet her eyes.

"Hey now, we just got off the bus, today is going to be a fun day, right?" He made a couple of soft cooing noises meant to calm her. "Something wrong? Did you forget your mittens on the bus?" He kept his voice light and tried to smile as much as he could. There was plenty to be frightened of in a place like Landel's, but maybe he could help her forget that for at least a little while.

Ururu looked up at the man who approached her. His hair was the right color, but that was the only thing. He was definitely not Kisuke-san.

"Mittens?" Ururu held up her hands, which were a little cold in the fall air. But she wasn't crying over mittens. That's the sort of thing Jinta-kun would pull her pigtails over.

So she shook her head, sniffling a little. "I'm looking for someone. His name is Kisuke-san. You haven't seen him, have you?"

"Kisuke-san?" he drew out the sound of the name as he rolled it through his memory. There had been a doodle on the board, probably this little one's, of a man with straw colored hair and something of a wild expression that had borne the title. He shook his head sympathetically. "I'm afraid I haven't."

He held out one hand, "But we'll see if we can fix it, ok? Here, I'll keep at least one of those hands warm and we can go look for him in town, alright?" He gave her another smile, "I think it'll be much more fun than waiting and crying. Don't you?"

Shaken after the conversation with Byakuya, as well as his abrupt departure, Rukia was one of the last people off the bus. Her legs felt shaky, and her cheeks were flushed, despite the chill in the air. She had never spoken to him like that before, not so directly. And to disagree with him...

Rukia looked around, trying to find Renji in the dispersing groups of patients. She was too short to see over everyone, though, so waited by the bus until the crowd thinned and she could hopefully catch a glimpse of him.

There was no sign of the redhead, but Rukia did see someone she recognized. "Ururu," she called, walking toward the little girl and the very tall blonde boy holding her hand. He didn't seem to be the cause of Ururu's tears, given his friendly smile, but Rukia thought it best to make sure.

"It's me, Rukia," she said, still not sure from when Urahara's shop assistant had been taken. "Why are you crying?"

Ururu hesitated, looking up at the man who seemed so kind. Ichimaru-san had seemed kind the day before, and he had turned out to be one of the enemy. It would be just her luck that this new person was too.

But now that she thought about it, he didn't feel the same way Hitsugaya-san had. He wasn't a Shinigami, and he certainly didn't look like an Arrancar. Maybe that meant he was okay.

And he was offering to help her find Kisuke-san. That made any person better in Ururu's eyes.

She was about to nod and say yes when another voice called out, this one much more familiar. Ururu turned to Rukia, her tears already slowing just by not being alone. "Hi Rukia-san. I can't find Kisuke-san." She paused, looking down then. Not being able to find Kisuke-san was a very bad thing. "This person said he'd help me look."

She looked up at the stranger then, taking the offered hand and shaking it, just as had happened several times the day before. "My name is Ururu, and this is Rukia-san. Who are you?"

He looked up to see another small girl with short black hair approach. Were these two sisters maybe? He smiled easily at the other woman, "Oh, hello."

He nodded his head by way of greeting, "My name is really long, so please, just call me Fai." The lie came so easily these days he almost forgot it was one. Almost. "Pleased to meet you both. I'm sorry, I hope I'm not intruding. Poor Ururu seemed so upset, I couldn't just leave her here alone. Do you know this Kisuke person?" he asked Rukia inquisitively.

"Oh, that's nice of him," Rukia said, smiling at Ururu, then up at the young man, who introduced himself as Fai. She glanced around, but didn't see any sign of Urahara. "I haven't seen Urahara," she said, "But he must be around somewhere." If worse came to worse, Rukia could just look for the shopkeeper's spirit thread, but after the kidou she'd used last night, she preferred not to tax herself more unless necessary. "I'll help you look too, if you like."

"Oh, you're not intruding at all," Rukia nodded to Fai. "Nice to meet you, as well. Urahara Kisuke is from our world," she said, indicating herself and Ururu.

Ururu nodded, looking up at Fai. "Rukia-san is Kisuke-san's valued customer." She changed her voice just a little when she spoke, trying to sound old and wise like Kisuke-san. It didn't sound much different from her normal voice though.

At the thought of Rukia-san not seeing able to find Kisuke-san either, Ururu felt a little worse. Had anyone at all seen him? Maybe she should post another sign on the bulletin board when they got back. Even if Kisuke-san wasn't happy about it the first time, she really did need to find him.

"Yes. Please help us, Fai-san." Ururu looked up innocently at the man, then again to Rukia. "I really need to find him soon. I've learned a lot, and I need to tell Kisuke-san."

Yuuhi looked a little embarrassed at Rukia's unexpected praise. Nice? He didn't think he was particularly so. Anyone would stop to help a child that was crying; it was nothing extraordinary.

"Of course," he replied automatically. The older girl seemed to at least know that the man was supposed to be somewhere around here. Had all of the patients come for the trip? Maybe some were still back at the institution. "It's no problem at all. I'm kind of new, so it'll help me meet some new people and help this little lady all at the same time. Seems like a fair trade to me."

Rukia gave Fai a somewhat amused look; kids could be cute, sometimes, and she had always liked Ururu. "Oh," she said to the little girl, "What did you learn? Anything interesting?"

To Fai she asked, "When did you arrive? Have you been faring well during the night?"

Despite how exhausted she still was from last night, Rukia tried to keep her eyes open for anything that might provide clues as to where they were, or how they might take advantage of their new freedom. Later, she would have to see if she could get any information out of the people of the town, or perhaps some assistance. And of course there were always things to steal...

"About the different realities, mostly." When she'd been talking about it last night, Orihime-san had said Rukia-san said something similar. "And that it's supposed to be dangerous at night. Everyone kept saying I should be really careful, especially Maes-san. He said I shouldn't fight at all."

Ururu's eyes turned to Fai then. She also knew the enemy was there, but maybe that wasn't wise to say so in front of him. There were a bunch of times she could whisper it to Rukia, so she decided to do that for the moment.

"And Hitsugaya-san wants to talk to him. He says that we should join forces." Ururu tilted her head to the side. "Are a lot of people here that we know?" She then turned, looking down the street. "We should go soon. Kisuke-san will get too far if we don't."

Ururu was still wary of him, which, in his opinion at least, made her wise. Even if she looked a child, she was handling her current situation remarkably well. Though it really wasn't up to him whether she should fight or not. He hadn't thought Syaoran ready for battle either, but the boy insisted and managed to surprise him almost every time. Though there was the problem with that seal...

"Yesterday, during Arts and Crafts," he explained. It had made for an interesting welcome. "Last night went as well as could be expected I suppose," he shrugged lightly. He had no physical injuries to show for it and whatever that darkness had tried to do to him, it was gone now. "We delivered some first aid supplies to... Mustang?" He hadn't caught the other man's name.

He straightened from his crouch up to his considerable height. He was thin though, slight of build and terribly lanky. He felt a little bad towering over the two small girls, but there wasn't much he could do to help that. "How right you are Ururu. Shall we?"

Maes. Rukia had heard that name several times, but not met the man. "He was right," she said to Ururu, "It's not a good idea to fight unless you have strong weapons. What did you do last night?"

She leaned down when the girl whispered. "Captain Hitsugaya wants to join forces with Maes?" she asked, somewhat confused, "I thought that we already had, to a degree. In any case," she added, straightening, "I'll see what the Captain wants to do." In answer to Ururu's question and Fai's suggestion, she said, "Yes, let's go. Why don't you lead, Ururu?" The girl needed more confidence, so maybe leading them would help her.

Rukia nodded at Fai. "Yes, Colonel Mustang has been a great help to us all. He wasn't injured, was he?"

"I looked for Kisuke-san." Ururu thought that particular activity went without saying, but since Rukia-san had asked... "I didn't find him. But I did find Yoruichi-san and Orihime-san."

When Rukia-san leaned down to whisper, Ururu shook her head. She kept her voice low, deciding that the shinigami must have had a reason for wanting to whisper. "Hitsugaya-san wants to join forces with Kisuke-san. I don't know if Kisuke-san will want to though."

Ururu gave a slight nod to Fai-san, and to Rukia-san's suggestion that she lead. She tried to think like Kisuke-san for a moment, to decide which way he'd go. But thinking like Kisuke-san was hard, and since she didn't want her head to hurt, she just picked to go straight. Kisuke-san could be lazy sometimes, so maybe he went with what was easiest.

"This way." Still holding Fai-san's hand, Ururu headed down the street, more than willing to drag the man behind her if he was too slow.

[To here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/245151.html?thread=17738655#t17738655)]

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Day 28: Germaine Street

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