A Morning Run (private)

The battle was over, a retreat of the enemy, and with many casualities. Squad Four had been on the scene before the battle had ended. With the dispatching of the combat medics, Aoide's personal projects, there would have been mo deaths. She had even fought in battle, much to the dipleasure of some of the other Captains duetoher status as a healer not a fighter. But he would hve died, Ichigo Kurosaki, and Aoide couldn't bare to stay on the sidelines as soon as she felthis Spiritual Energy waning. The weeks following the attacks had been filled with healing, dressing changes, and taking care of the dying.

This was the first morning in a long time that Aoide was able to pull away from her duties as Captain of Squad Four and have a break from the heartbreak from the injured. As soon as she passed the last building in Squad Four's section she began to run. Within seconds, a mere wind to those who she passed, Aoide was over the Gotei 13 wall and running into the districts. In the districts she was too fast to see for the lowly spirits tht dwelled there, a mighty wind. She was the Songbird Shinigami of the Gotei 13, and have been called the Windrunner Captain. She had been to pleased to have a second nickname to correct the namer that she didn't run on the wind, it was too slow, she ran with the sound and light.

As she ran she let her muscles and the sweat on her brow clear her mind, relaxing her. She could shunpo from place to place of course, all Captains but Zaraki could. Aoide felt this movement was limited to the long, swift movements she could merely run and keep up with someone Shunpoing. It was just her perference to run, it was a part of her. Which was a puzzling subject on its own. During the battle, she had fought well, but had relied on her sword abilites, one of her strengths. She had all this Spiritual Energy, yet she was doomed to return to the hack and slash she learned while being a member of Squad 11. She did well at Kido, but she felt like there could be more that she could do, but what?

Yoruichi gazed below at the large area of the Seireitai. She hadn't been here in a while, but in comparison to her last visitation to the Soul Society, the place was a heavenly paradise. Yoruichi could clearly see the bold effects war had on the Seireitai. Roofs were ruined and thick with holes. Light coral colored tiles sat smashed into pieces on the ground, littering the pathways. Large Glass windows were smashed throughly, an empty frame lying in the wake of the disaster. The smaller window ere partially smashed, small holes were things flew through the glass and landed on the other side of the walls. It would be quite pretty if one didn't think of what had occured to cause it. It reminded Yoruichi of spider webs, which in turn reminded her of spiders. Yoruichi's tiny pink tounge lightly glazed over her small cat muzzle. "Ewww.....spiders...." Yoruichi thought to herself. She was aware it was just those pesky cat insticts taking over again. She was incredibly hungry, but there was no way Yoruichi was even go put her paws next to a spider. She wandered around the Seireitai, paws stepping around glass and debris. Yoruichi sighed quietly again. She was still in disbelief that she hadn't been notified of the war in Seireitai. She wondered if Kisuke and Tessai knew. She shook her tiny pitch black head rapidly, shaking away the thought of that. "They would've told me if they had known.....Ichigo. Was Ichigo there?" Yoruichi thought again. She snickered quickly after the last questino of hers.

"Of course he would be there......it's Ichigo for god sakes. That boy wouldn't miss a battle to save his own life." Youruichi muttered to herself within' her mind. She continued the trek for some food, maybe a yummy bottle of milk. Unlike the thought of a spider dinner, the milk was a welcoming thought. Yoruichi's ears pricked gently as she heard footsteps, rapid footsteps but not Shunpo, running down the path. Yoruichi quickly scuttled into a wrecked building. She was unsure if anyone knew of her cat form, and she didn't exactly want to hear from the captains about not being there during a time of need for them, as every emergency message went. She already felt somewhat annoyed about missing out on the experience. She knew it was a good chance to check on Ichigo and maybe the rest of the gang once more. Yoruichi peered to the left of her and spotted a tantalizing bottle of milk. It was sitting idly under a collapsed wall, just hidden in the nook of the spot between the ground adn the wall itself. Persperation clung to the bottle heavily. Yoruichi's golden honey eyes were focused on the full bottle. Yoruichi sprang forward, using a rapid shunpo to get her there faster. Her paws clung rapidly to the slippery glass. Unexpectedly, the bottle along with a kitten Yoruichi wrapped tightly around the bottle skidded out from under the wall and into the pathway. She looked up to see a woman, the same one she was jogging. Yoruichi blinked rapidly, not saying a single word.

Aoide quick brown eyes surveyed the districts as she passed by them at impossible speeds. There was extreme damage every corner that she ran around, she knew that the combat medics she had sent out to heal the injured souls would have their hands full. She expected that in the short time that he' be away from her desk that when she returned there would be massive amounts of reports to take care of. Thus, was the life for Captain, paperwork. That didn't mea that Aoide ddn't occasionally pass a few reports to her new Vice Captain. But being the Squad Four Captain meant she had big shoes and responsibilities to fill.

As Aoide was pondering the former Captain, movement right in front of her feet caused her to start. A, cat? Her reflexes kicked in as Aoide threw her torso over, her hands connecting with the ground and lifting her feet up in a clumsy flip over the animal. She didn't want to be the one to run over a cat, animals were so rare in the Soul Society. Aoide wasn't able to right herself from the flip and went head over feet, a trail of dust kicking up as she rolled at high speeds right into a wall. Around her stone and straw littered down onto her brown hair. Dizzily, Aoide got to her feet, unharmed, unlike the wall. So, this was the reason she was transfered from Squad 11 to 10, instead of two like she requested.

Back then she had to have an audition of sorts with the Catain of Squad Two to prove that she was fast, sneaky, and smart enough for the squad. Aoide had proven to be fast enough and smart enough. Sneaky though, Aoide's face blushed, duing that mission they had been sneaking up on a rogue Shinigami and Aoide had went head over heels after tripping on a basket. Granted, her clownish act had surprised the criminal, and her fall and roll had taken him out. The Yoruichi-Taichou had suggested that maybe Squad Two wasn't the best place for Aoide.

Which had been true, Aoide still didn't regret staying in the human world and protecting the souls, missing the first war, or even when a bunch of the Captains had been turned into Vizards. She was content in her life, particularly, she grinned, with meeting Ichigo, and training him. Thos soft kisses she snuck on them, they were just too, prefect. Even the thought of them made her stomach flutter. Still a little giddy Aoide crouched down as she neared the cat.

"Ksk, ksk, here kitty," she spoke holding out a hand, "I won't hurt you," she murmured softly using a little spiritual energy in her voice to calm the creature. "I'll take you back to my office, feed you milk and fish until you're fat and I'll even let you sleep on my paperwork," Aoide smild kindly a the animal. Sh was fond of most animals, even wished she could have a cat. But in Soul Society the only animals she saw were boars and Death Butterflies. "Ksk, ksk," she repeated.