Chapter 5

Cheshire.

Soul Society turned out to be much larger than I expected. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I cannot say much about Seireitei and the districts of Rukongai close to it: I did not dare to approach those places. But I learned quite a lot about the remote areas of Rukongai.

Firstly, I did not dare to call these places "cities", nature reigned here: forests, fields, lakes, rivers, even mountains, and among all this there were small towns and villages that were interrupted by who what: who caught fish and sold to neighbors, who he chopped wood and sent wood to more populated areas, who processed the raw materials ... And life here was far from the definition of paradise. The places were poor, I would even say, beggars, only more or less large villages could afford stone buildings, and even then not everyone, but this all interested me in the tenth place.

I was much more pleased to learn that there are quite a few Hollows that get in here, and like me, they prefer to hang out a little further from the Soul Society center. In response to this behavior, the shinigami send regular patrols to these places, as well as send out response teams if someone somewhere spots an empty one. Of course, there were casualties among the civilian population, but nevertheless the shinigami did their job, and those who penetrated here, empty, did not rage for a long time. On average, they got rid of them within a week.

Well, I ... I almost jumped with delight: if I were the only one empty who penetrated here, then after a dozen or two eaten by shinigami, a lieutenant, or even a captain, would probably have been set on me, but so ... So I already For over a year I've been dumping the shinigami I ate on random empty ones. What? Shinigami work is dangerous, no one knows when an empty one will be stronger, more agile and nimble than you ... And coupled with the fact that after killing a group of shinigami, I always changed the hunting area, it was unrealistic to catch me, or even find out about my presence.

So now I spotted a lonely Hollow, operating near the southern mountain range, and began to patiently wait until a group of shinigami would not be sent to eliminate it. The wait turned out to be shorter than usual: after only two days, the three shinigami left the village, where they spent the night after the march, and began to cut circles, scanning the area around the aforementioned village. But they were not alone: ​​out of some fright, they took with them a local child, who seemed to be acting as their guide. At most it was the child who walked in front while the shinigami followed. So what to do? I will eat the shinigami, but I will let the child go: an ordinary person will not be able to distinguish empty from Adjuchas, which means he is a danger for me, or rather it does not constitute a danger, and as food, simple souls are useless, this was the first thing I tried when I got here. Unfortunately, the reishi of simple souls were immediately washed out of me like some useless slag. Well, since the girl is not food, and does not pose a threat, I see no reason to kill her.

Having made a decision, I immediately execute it: a jerk, and one shinigami did not even notice how he died, while I was already chewing on his head. The second was wheezing under my paw, but a little more pressure on the chest and he calmed down. But the third one even tried to attack me, apparently did not fully understand who he was dealing with, because here I hide my spiritual pressure even more thoroughly than in Hueco Mundo. Importantly, I simply pierced him with my tail, although I didn't like the fact that he grabbed him: well, what kind of cat, or a cat, would like it when he was grabbed by the tail ?! Throwing this misunderstanding aside, I began to eat my first victim. Usually I kill my prey immediately and painlessly, but this guy dared to grab my tail, so let him suffer a little ...

Hmm? When I was finishing with the first shinigami, the girl, still standing with a pillar, apparently out of fear, finally began to move and began to quietly sneak up to the nearby Zanpakutо. So what are you going to do? I continued my meal, watching the child's actions with interest. Here she takes a katana, and stands there for a couple of seconds, eyes closed. Yeah, thinks I'll attack her if she holds a weapon? Well, it depends on what you are going to do with him ... Decided to fight to the last? Meanwhile, the girl did not wait for the attack, and again began to move. Hmm? She did not go towards me, but towards the wounded shinigami. I thought she wanted to sneak up on me and stab me in the back while I was "consumed" by food, but it looks like she decided to bet on the shinigami. Thinks that if he has a Zanpakuto, he can fight? With a hole through your chest? He only had thirty seconds left to live ... I did not begin to do anything: even if the wounded man could raise his weapon, he would not even be able to crawl to me. Hmm? What is she doing ?! Instead of handing the Zanpakuto to the shinigami, the girl swung her head, and without a shadow of a doubt lowered the blade onto the shinigami's back! And then she repeated it a few more times! Hmmmm? And how her face was distorted at the same time ... There was nothing human left on it: only anger, hatred and a desire to kill. And she is not a case disguised as Hollow? Although no, Hollows are not capable of such strong emotions. Meanwhile, the girl stopped chopping at her prey and instead plunged the katana into the immovable corpse of the shinigami. But this was not enough for her: not in the least embarrassed, she stepped on the corpse to make it easier to pull out the weapon, and again drove it into the body. And she doesn't seem to be going to stop ... It's time to stop mocking my food.

- I appreciate the help, but there is not enough fire for the barbecue. - Approaching her from the back, I said, which made the poor man shudder, turned around, examined my bloody mask, then gagged her mouth with her hands, and stumbling over the corpse, fell on her ass and closed her eyes. Ha-ah-ah ... - You know, with me the tactic of "pretend to be dead" will not work. - I grinned, to which the girl opened her eyes, and with obvious fear began to examine me. The desire to click my teeth in front of my face was great, but I think that this could cause her to have a heart attack, and I had already decided not to kill her. So I just went back to the meal, continuing to observe her actions. And the girl was afraid to move for some time, but then she got to her feet, and no longer afraid to make noise, she dragged the shinigami killed by her to the one I crushed with my paw. Then she sat down next to them, and stared into infinity. At least I have not seen hollow eyes for a long time.

- ... - After finishing with the shinigami, I spent about twenty minutes washing my face, which has long become a habit: when the mask is covered with dried blood, I even disgust to move ... Of course, I had to wash like a cat, but there was no alternative, for lack of human hands. However, I was in no hurry, so I could afford to spend twenty minutes. Well, the final touches: place a few weak mines with a timer: they will destroy the earth, making it impossible to determine who and with whom exactly fought here, and you can leave.

- Mister Hollow? Behind me I heard the voice of a girl, about whom I had even forgotten.

- Hmm? - I turned to her.

- And you won't eat me? - She asked at the same time with fear and ... disappointment?

- Hmmm ... - I held out, coming close to her. - Are you tasty? - All the same I could not resist ...

- ... - She seems to be lost in thought. - I don't think: for the last six years I have only eaten on slops ... - She shuddered. - Yes, and there is not enough meat on me ... - Here I have nothing to say: the girl was thin, even painfully thin. - And you seem to be like a cat, not a dog, to love bones ...

- Khghmkha-ha-ha-ha !! - I could not resist and laughed right in her face: she approached my question so seriously ... It was both funny and ... Scarecrow.

- Hmm? I ... I'm sorry ... - She mumbled confusedly.

- I'm not going to eat you. - I simply answered, and headed away.

- I see ... - She said with obvious disappointment, looking around in some confusion.

- You seem disappointed ... Do you want to die?

- No I do not want to. She shrugged indifferently. "But I'll die anyway. I thought you could at least do it quickly ...

"Do you think you will be punished for that shinigami?" Her face once again twisted into a grimace of hatred and blind rage.

- No, but the fact that I alone survived is enough to kill me. Just in case, to say in case of something that no one has returned: no one needs problems with shinigami here. And I don't think my death will be easy ... - No, I've seen something else in my life, and yet when a ten-year-old child so calmly and detachedly discusses his impending death, it ... It annoys me.

- And you did not think to run away?

- Where? She shrugged, then turned her back on me and pulled back the collar of her bloody shirt, revealing a simple brand placed at the base of her neck and right shoulder. - This stigma is known to all nearby cities: as soon as someone sees it, they will immediately hand me over as a fugitive. And it is unrealistic to run far enough without going into settlements. She finished, looking thoughtfully at the blade of a nearby Zanpakutо. Has she decided to end herself?

- Follow me. - I ordered, opening the Garganta behind me.

- Huh? - At first the girl recoiled, but apparently decided that she still had nothing to lose, and took a couple of steps forward, coming close to me.

- Stay close. - I nodded, stepping into the gray fog of Garganta, not forgetting to expand the "floor" so that the girl could walk without shaking against my side.

Hmm ... I thought she would ask questions, but no, she walks next to me, turns her head, but says nothing. I wonder if I stop shielding her with my "Stimulating Breath" from the external environment, will Garganta have any effect on her? Still deciding not to check it, I continued to go forward. During the time spent in the Soul Society, as well as for the constant travel back to Hueco Mundo, where I stocked up on Adjuchas meat, I began to navigate perfectly in Garganta and could open the transition to the point I needed with an error of a couple of tens of centimeters. And now I opened the passage to the shore of the lake, and when I got out I made sure that there was no one around.

- This lake ... - I nodded at the water surface. - Located one hundred and forty kilometers north of Seireitei. In other words, on the opposite side of the recent mountains. I don't think anyone here has the slightest idea what kind of stigma is on your neck. Goodbye. Waving my tail at her goodbye, I walked away.

- Mister Hollow! - She shouted after me.

- What is it this time?

- But why?

- You made me laugh, girl. And I'm used to paying for good performances.

- Mister Hollow! - She did not calm down.

- First, I have a name. - I began a little irritably, but then I remembered that during all this time I had not come up with a name for myself! Until now, there was no one to introduce myself to ... Umm ... I know! I've been in an incredibly good mood lately, so I think I have one idea ... - Cheshire. Just Cheshire. And secondly, what else do you want from me? I have no limitless patience!

- Thank you, Cheshire-san! - And sincerely smiles like that ... - Thank you so much! - Without answering, I found myself with two jumps in the forest surrounding the lake. It's time to look for the next "empty scapegoats" ...

No, yet I like it here much more than in Hueco Mundo. The sun overhead, soft grass under me, fresh breeze ... No, shinigami are certainly dangerous, but if you don't get impudent, know when to stop and be careful, then it's not at all as dangerous as it seemed to me at first. Not that I relaxed: constantly scanning the area around me became not even a habit, but something like breathing, but when I just started my "career" as a shinigami hunter, I did not even think about lounging on the shore like this lakes and just enjoy nature. Why on earth am I doing this? It's simple: here I could not hunt all the time, because over time I became more and more effective in hunting, it took less and less time and even taking all precautions, if the death rate among shinigami as a whole begins to inexplicably rise, this will certainly alert the shinigami , and there is an investigation, and God forbid, they learn that Adjuchas is working in the Soul Society. Therefore, I had to limit myself, so to speak, go on a diet. I decided that four shinigami a month was a natural death rate, so I stuck with it. Well, given that I usually came across shinigami in groups of two to four, and it didn't take more than four or five days to lure them out, track down and eat them, so it turned out that I had a lot of free time, but there was nothing to do. Part of this time I spent hunting in Hueco Mundo, part of this time I spent on experiments and training control reiatsu in the same Hueco Mundo, because here I did not risk deactivating "Stimulating Breathing", and still I had more than a week of time per month, which I had nothing to spend. Of course, you could spend even more time on training, but you need to know when to stop in everything: if you push too hard on training, then involuntarily you will start making mistakes and the effectiveness will significantly decrease. So lately I have preferred to spend my free time in Soul Society, in nature. Anything better than wasting it in a gray, boring Hueco Mundo ...

- Mrrrrr ... - Warmth, breeze, smells of the forest ... What more could you ask for? The last shinigami for this month I ate just two days ago, so it was still "digesting", and everyone knows that after a hearty meal, you should sleep.

Unfortunately, I can't sleep, and I am not in the mood for meditation, so what? In a place like this, you can just lie there and not think about anything for weeks! Hmm? My bliss was interrupted by a signal from my radar: someone was in its coverage area. But this lake is located relatively far from settlements. Who is it there? A weak source of reiatsu, but clearly insufficient for a shinigami. And they do not go alone. Just a person with a gift? Most likely. I didn't do anything: the grass is high here, I'm lying on the opposite shore of the lake from the approaching person, so the chance of being noticed is minimal. A man came out to the lake and stopped moving. I waited for a while, but the reiatsu source was not going to move, so curiosity seized me and I opened one eye and raised my head slightly, leaning out slightly above the level of the grass to look at my guest. What people! On the opposite bank sat the same girl whom I saved …

It seems like it was two months ago? Time passes so quickly when you enjoy life like this ... Now she was sitting on a fallen log and throwing stones into the water. Should I go or say hello? Having checked the radar again, I made sure that there was no one around, except for her, and with a smile internally, I disappeared into the forest, ran around the lake in a wide arc, and began to sneak up on the girl from the back.

- Boo! - I whispered in her ear.

- A-A-A-A !!!! - She jumped off the log, as if needles suddenly began to grow out of it. Trying to turn around and jump to the side at the same time, she stumbled over her own leg and fell to the ground, since the wet ground was rather soft. - Ay-y-yay! - She grabbed the banged elbow, after which she finally saw me and immediately fell silent. - Good afternoon, Cheshire-san. - She nodded to me, getting to her feet.

- Hello. - I smiled, practicing my name.

"Why scare me like that?" - She asked a little offended.

- The mood was good. - I grinned. - By the way, where does all this come from? - I asked, lying on the grass next to the girl.

- What are you about?

- Mostly about bruises, but I also see some rather large abrasions.

- Oh, this ... - She waved it off. "A common result of life in Rukongai.

- And in more detail? - I squinted at the cool breeze: the mood was just right for listening to different stories. In addition, I was engaged in scanning the girl: last time I did not notice her gift of shinigami, although last time I did not pay much attention to her. And her gift is very weak ...

- What is more detailed? She shrugged. - I have no skills: as soon as I got into Soul Society, I was only doing laundry and cleaning, and on the streets no one needs these skills. I can't read or write, so it's unrealistic to get involved with a master, so all that remains is to beg and steal in trifles. And this sphere of earnings has long been occupied by its "authorities", and they have very strict laws: did not fulfill the plan? Beat. Complained about you? Beat. Got the attention of the guards? Beat. Trifles, in fact, especially since, although they beat me, they don't give offense to anyone else: neither the guards, nor the drunken peasants ... - She shrugged it off indifferently. - It was much worse in the mines.

- So what? Don't want to punch them in the face in response?

- I want to, but as I said, I know how to fight no better than dancing.

- What are you doing here?

- I like it here. - She smiled. - You can get distracted from work and beatings, just sit, throw stones into the water ...

- Hmm ...

- What are you doing here?

- The same reason, minus throwing stones. - I grinned.

- I see. - She nodded, and picking up a pebble from the ground, threw them into the lake. My presence did not bother her at all, and the girl apparently decided to continue her rest, ignoring the huge Hollow, which was literally three meters away from her. You don't often see such people. Speaking of special individuals ... Maybe work with her? The girl is young, with not yet fully developed character ... If you approach the matter correctly and do not break the wood, you can raise an obedient dog from her, faithful to me until death. Of course, there is no sense in an ordinary human servant, but she has a gift. Weak, yes, but still there. I don't know much about shinigami, but if her gift can be developed, at least a little, then she can quite become a full-fledged shinigami. And to have a loyal shinigami, ready to fulfill any of my whims, that's another conversation ... The only question is - am I ready to spend a huge amount of time and effort on raising this child? Although, on the other hand, I still have nothing to do: no, lying in the sun and squinting in the cool wind is good and pleasant, but doing something useful, even if useful not immediately, is better, right? Although her upbringing will most likely take more time than I give myself to do nothing, so it will most likely have to cut back on training time, and in extreme cases, reduce the number of shinigami eaten per month. So the question is: is it worth it? Well, I'll get a true shinigami ... Why do I need it? What am I going to do with her? I opened my eyes and examined the girl appraisingly. Nothing special. No, there are always uses for the faithful shinigami. Ahhh, I'm just trying to find a reason why I don't have to lift my butt and do something! Quite lazy in the Soul Society!

- How do you feel about training?

- Hmm? What are you talking about? What kind of training?

- To read? Write? Consider? Fight?

- Um ... Schools are very expensive here, I will never make money from them.

- And who is talking about schools? - I got to my feet, and came close to the girl, almost touching her nose with my mask. She did not move away.

- And what about then?

- I can personally teach you all this and much, what else.

- ... - She thought for a while. - And so what to you?

- Entertainment.

- Entertainment?

- Exactly: you ... - I walked around her in a circle. - You are nobody. There is nothing special about you: no special beauty, no special talents or skills, even your character is unremarkable. Well, except for the hatred of the shinigami, but that's beside the point. You are nobody. - I repeated. - But I am bored. I'm just wondering if I can mold something out of nothing. I will teach you, I will coach you, but if you cannot withstand my training, or if you turn out to be hopelessly stupid, I will simply throw you away like a spoiled toy. These are the conditions. Decide, girl, I won't propose a second time.

- I agree. She nodded immediately.

- You don't even think about it?

- There is nothing to think about. - She smiled. "As you said, I am nobody. I have nothing, nothing holds me, so at least I have no reason not to try to become someone.

- Good answer. - I smiled. - Then tell me your name.

- Didn't I introduce myself? - She was surprised. - My name is Hinata Mizuhaki.

- Hina, then. I nodded. - You don't often have to memorize someone's names. - I grinned. - Well, Hina, I see no reason to waste time: follow me.