A Brave New Beginning

He stood atop a giant skyscraper in downtown Karakura overlooking the business district in an orange sunset. A slight breeze catches his brown leather trench coat and blows it softly in a rhythmic flow of folds. His eyes were serious and his lips seemed to not have moved in speech for a good many weeks, Fulmine was a man of solitude and enjoyed the simpler things in life, though it was moments like these he wished he could share with another. A slight sigh escaped him as this though ran through his mind and he walked over to sit on top of a ventilation tube to relax as he took in the beautiful scene laid out before him.

"Such a stupid Gigai!" Said Jojo Kaguya as she walked through the city of Karakura. She hated being in Gigai but half the time it was what was good for her as she walked about the area pinching her fore arm as though to relax tensions of her business outfit. She would look very much a human though her red hair was very animated unlike most red heads she had always kept it short and with it she would walk about with her eyes merely normal as they could be while walking. She may have hated Gigai's but it was the world of the living she found her peace in the breeze as she walked through the area in happy exhilaration as she would just walk about boredom and wondered what humans normally do for a living around these times of the century.

Fulmine looked around to see if anyone was around and then reached into the vent to retrieve a carton of marlboros and a liter of whiskey, the feast of kings and champions the world over. He popped a ciggy into his mouth and lit up, after a rather long inhale he sighed in relief as the stress of the day flowed out of him smoothly. He kept just laying there puffing away until he removed the cylinder with one hand and took a large swig out of the bottle with the other. He seemed slightly buzzed but no where close to being drunk even though this particular alcohol was rather fermented. He laid the bottle down and replaced the ciggy to his waiting lips.

Jojo was dully bored with the way things were just on the ground so she had entered a building and had been sent to travel up the elevator two the top of the skyscraper. It was then that she recognized a smell all too familiar as it were combusted smoke and alcohol. It was all very strong too as she looked around and saw no one as she sighed and then called outward, "Hello? Anyone up here?" She didn't know much but this much she knew was acting human at the least. She would sit against the fenced wall of the tower as it were there to keep tourists from falling though she is the only tourist hear at the moment as well. Man was she bored of this walking and doing nothing for a holiday.

He heard something so he sat up and looked around to find a young woman in a set of business clothes. He was at first annoyed that someone had intruded on his spot but then realized he may as well make the best of the situation. He got to his feet and walked over to her from the left side leaving his alcohol behind. When he was a safe enough social distance from her he pulled out his ciggys and offered the pack to her, "Cura per una sigaretta?" He looked a little tired now from all the relieved stress so his face was loose and friendly as he spoke his native language.

Jojo's mind would race and judging on the accent and the way it were offered and spoke she had made a guess that this language was Italian as she would speak in her own accent of Japanese in her as she would then say, "No, grazie. Io non fumo." She would say this with a peace of mind. She would then hold out a hand to shake yours with as she would greet you by saying in the Italian tongue, "Sono Kaguya Jojo. Chi potrebbe essere?" She hoped she said that right as her tongue stuttered with the word 'Chi' as she would be happy to speak to someone at the least.

The Italian man chuckled at the broken language the woman tried to use to communicate with him, this time he replied in English. "I'm known as Fulmine in my home land but most people around here seem to call me Bum." He chuckles again letting the very feint smell of his drink float into the air as he accepts her offer and shakes her hand.

"You speak English? I'm happy for that at the least." She would then withdraw her hand and looked at the view as she would then say to Fulmine, "I don't really have any nicknames that people try to call me. I am just known as Jojo." She would sigh in the quiet air as she would then pop her neck as she would then be her ordinary self as she would now sit on the ground and sigh some more. Curse the bordome that plagued her.

Fulmine was glad that the woman had not yet commented on his horns but none the less he found himself rubbing them by force of habit when he met new people. He took one last drag on his cig and then when it was nothing but a butt he turned and flicked it nearly thirty feet over the side of the building. "Well you seem rather bored if you don't mind me saying so. Are you new in town or something?"

"I was here a long time ago. It just seems as though with the time that passed there just isn't any actual known fun to do around here." Jojo would then look at you as she would then smile a bit as she popped her neck and then said in the response to being bored, "Just a lousy childhood really. Nothing to extravagant about this place that meets the eyes." She would slump over and then shake her pain away as she would then look at your head and not care to mention the horns.

He took out his carton and lit up another ciggy after flicking it into his mouth with his thumb. After the box was placed in his pocket once more he let himself have a good drag on the cylinder only to exhale the precious smog back into the open air away from the woman. "In realtà sono nuovo qui mi, oh sorry about that. I meant to say that I'm new to the town myself, only a few weeks here so far but I have plans for what to do already." He seemed uplifted in both expression and tone of voice as he said the last bit and he returned his glance to the setting sun to take in the beautiful mixture of dark oranges, reds and yellows. It was still an hour or so before the sun went down but he figured he may as well ask now, "So then love, do you plan on heading home soon or shall you stay through the night? If you want I'll escort you home though I don't blame you if you can't trust a drifter like me, no one ever does." His eyes grew angry like a wild beast for a split second before fading back into the calm and mellow state they had been in.

"I am sorry but I just can not go home right now. I actually don't have one in this town but I have one farther out of here," Jojo would laugh lightly as her hand scratched the back of her head as she would now look around and then then popped her neck for some seconds. "It was nice meeting you but may I ask about your horns?" She was curious of that difformity and was also happy to figure it out when possible at all area's of reason. She was certainly not one to make fun of such a thing but it was by far an unusual thing to see around this century due to people being shunned for such abnormalities.

Fulmine looked up at his horns for a moment and sighed deeply, he figured they would come up but as always he had hoped they would go unnoticed. As he spoke his right hand was constantly rubbing his right horn slowly. "These, are a birth defect common to my family, the majority of the men in my house have been cursed with these wretched things but at the same time they made us seem almost divine in my home village." He stopped rubbing his horn and removed the cig from his mouth for a moment as he looked at the sun again before returning his attention to the woman. He replaced the cylinder and proceeded to take a drag on it as more tension was released from his muscles. "Based on your attire I'd say you're a business woman correct? If that is so then why do you live so far away from your job?" His question was loose and the context seemed to show he had no plans of pushing for an answer if she didn't feel like answering it.

"I came on business. I had a meeting to go to here and it had just finished up. I find it quite intriguing that a person like yourself would have a whole family line of horned people. I've never heard of such a thing." She would say it with a concise feel and rythm as it was not an entire lie and she would then look at him a tad more asking, "What is it you do around in a city like this with horns like thouse? I would think people would be afraid of you and shy away a lot?"

He nodded and seemed to buy it, her story of business seemed honest enough and he had no reason or drive to think anything else. He finished the last bit of tobacco in his mouth but kept the small cylinder in his mouth and moved it around as he spoke. "My home village, Corna, is a small backwoods place found deep in the country of Italy. I'm not surprised haven't heard of it before since we don't contribute much to the world other than our mighty ox farms. Sadly, I have very little family left since the mafioso came in and raided our ranches with guns while all we had were pitchforks." His fist clenched as he thought about the event he had just mentioned, his anger built up for a moment before he caught hold of himself and let it out in a long and powerful sigh, "but then again I 'spose I don't mind, I was able to get away in the fire show and sent money to bring my cousins to stay with me." He laughed a little as his face lightened to where it had been before his history lesson, "Sorry about that bella, I didn't mean to make you hear my life story."

Jojo was solemn and then heard her cell phone go off as she would then look at you and say, "I am sorry but it seems I must get going now. I have a surprise... meeting to go to." She said meeting with a second meaning behind it with a dread of the word as she would then enter into the building and then take a soul candy pill of hers and gave her soul the rundown in case she was to come in contact again and then Jojo would hurry away to fulfill her duty as a shinigami in the human realm. There was a hollow and it was a mighty big one.

Fulmine heard the phone go off and then the woman said she needed to go, he raised his hand to wave her goodbye but then he felt a wave of pressure come over him like he had the other day when attacked by a pack of skeletal cat demons. His eyes got wider as this sensation was much stronger than all four cats together. "Do you feel that Bella? I sense demons out there and as a gentleman I can't simply let you go off on your own." He didn't know it but he was speaking to her gigai modsoul so he doubted that there would be any help for him.

The gigai would giggle and say, "Don't worry about it. The angels will take care of that which you feel are demons." The gigai would giggle and then jump down the stairwell dooing gymnastic movements all the way down. Jojo on the other hand was in front of the skyscraper facing the hollow that had large tenticals protruding from mouth and hands. They seemed to be the offensive weapon but Jojo felt no fear as she would already had cut the beast's leg off as she would be behind it saying, "You who hath destructive force. I will kill you where you stand!"

Ful looked over the edge of the building after the woman had a strange personality change and saw the giant demon creature. His eyes got wide but then he saw the woman in a set of black robes with a sword in hand. "what the hell? He didn't take time to think, grabbing a small metal beam he jumped off the building and fell dozens of stories. He didn't realize his spiritual pressure pushing him forward as he came down on the hellish feind completely crushing it and causing it to imploded on itself. "what the he'll was that?"

"That was a hollow boy. Please make note of it's implosion and how it is now decomposing itself into pieces. Pity human for what only you see and be certain you can help those who are facing off to these kinds of beings." She would then go over to you and pull out a small medkit wrapping up your hands and legs, "You shouldn't not run or punch anything for a couple days. That fall could kill most humans and on that note I know you are not a complete human. Heed my words and all will be well." With that Jojo would shunpou to her gigai who began to leave the building as she would then say, "Farewell." It was then that she shunpou'd away and then opened the gate back to the soul society hours away at human running pace as seh would return home.

(Exit)

He was bring educated in this spiritual world slot recently, first that he had a strong spiritual pressure though that still confused him and that these demonic creatures were called hollows that only a few people could see. His hands and legs were well bandaged so he figured the woman was an expert kexic by trade so maybe a doctor or nurse by trade bu then he remembered the sword and swift movements so he had no idea, the only thing he could think of was that she may be connected to the other odd person he met recently who cosplayed as something called a captain commander. He stood up and went to walk before his joints and muscles locked up. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! He screamed in pain and his eyes almost seemed to pop out of his head. He waited a few minutes for his body to recover from the shock and then made his way back to the top of the building to rest for the next week with booze and ciggys.

(exit)