Before the Mask
by LittleRin26
Dreaming of a Funny Smile
A Long Time Ago...
It was a calm spring day in the Seireitei. The birds were chirping, the cherry blossoms were blooming, and the very air itself just seemed tranquil.
That is unless you lived anywhere in or near the 9th Division. At the 9th Division the quiet day was disrupted by squealing peels of a child’s laughter followed by grunts and groans of pain.
No at the 9th Division, Shinigami of all ages were ducking for cover as a small child races through its gates, her fire-red pigtails whipping behind her in the breeze. The girl didn’t look to be anymore than five or six in age and to the casual observer looked quite harmless. But to those who knew the little girl with fire-red hair and smokey gray eyes...she was simply know as Captain Mugaruma’s she-demon.
Turning her head to look behind her, Emilou giggled madly at the fact that she had once again left her ‘babysitters’ in the dust. Really though, to Emilou and everyone else her ‘babysisters’ were just pansy-ass new recruits that couldn’t likely keep a goldfish in a bowl alive.
This was not an uncommon thing for those who lived near or in the 9th Division barracks. In fact, it was such a common occurrence that many of the Shinigami and vendors milling about merely sidestepped the small child without even having to look, as most of them had at least once felt the disgrace of having been bowled-over by the child like wrecking-ball. But mostly, they learned to sidestep the wild red-head for fear of accidently hurting her. Only once had that happened and every Shinigami in the 9th Division learned a hard lesson that day.
As always there were a chorus of cries in distance, and as per usual a gaggle of lowly seated officers followed, everyone of them shouting for the child’s mercy as they blew past. It was always the same... a bumbling mix of uncoordinated fools, all yelling over each other, “Lou-Lou, get back here!” or “Please comeback! The captain will have our heads!”. To which the little girl in question would simply giggle and shunpo even faster.
In the last two years since Emilou had come to the 9th Division to live with her elder brother, it had become something of a hazing process for the newly seated recruits. As degrading as this activity might have seemed to the new officers, it always held great entertainment value in those who had already run ‘the gautlant’ or those who were to highly ranked to get stuck with ‘babysitting’ duties. In fact everyone seemed to enjoy watching, spectating as if it were some new sport. To many standing about at this time of day, the child’s antics were a humorous respite from their daily toiling. No one could deny--not even the officers that tirelessly gave the girl chase--that the scarlet-haired sister to 4th Seat, Shinobu Eishuma brought new life into the division... and its unshakable captain. The 9th even got visitors from other divisions to watch the spectacle and was frequented by Captain of Squad 8, Shunsui Kyoraku and Squad 2 Captain, Yoruichi Shihoin.
Said little girl giggled again as she picked up speed in a flash-step that any seated officer of the Gotei 13 could be proud of. Flashing to the rooftops, Emilou Eishima--sweetly nicknamed Lou-Lou by her brother--peered down at the men attempting to capture and stuck out her tongue.
“Ah, ah, ah, slow~pokes,” she taunted down at them in a sing-song way that was personally taught to her by her ‘uncle’ Shun-kun. She wiggled her hips and gave them a hand gesture that would have made Captain Unohana faint. “You losers are gonna have to do better than that!”
There was a chorus of groans and whines that followed as the men assigned to ‘watch’ Emilou realized that they would now have to resort to scaling the building to catch her. And all of them where determined to reach the hot-headed female before her Kensei--their Captain--found her first and had their collective asses.
12th Seat Eriojino sighed as he looked up. He had been in the 12th Seat long enough to know that as much as he wanted to catch the little brat, as soon as even a single foot came into contact with even one tarractta tile, Emilou would disappear again. The little shit had a sixth sense!
As was suspected, the moment Sora; 14th Seated Officer neared the rooftop the child stuck out her tongue and flew into a shunpo and reappeared on a different roof.
“Seriously, when are you idiots gonna learn?” She taunted, wiggling her but once again.
Sniggering to herself, Emilou went to strut victoriously to the common area when her foot stepped on a loose tile that quickly gave way. She let out a scream as she tried to catch herself but it did little good as she found herself spiraling to the ground below.
Six sets of eyes turned panicked as they watched the scene before them helplessly. Their ‘little brat’, the sister to their 4th Seat and adopted brat of their Captain tumbled quite possibly to her death and there wasn’t a damn thing anyone of them could do. They were too far away to reach her in time and they all knew it.
