You wandered around the market, scouring for the items you were looking for. The market was filled with others, many of whom were not even souls reapers. Various stalled lined the roads. People bustled around you, chatting and possibly laughing. People in the stalls raised a hand into the air, probably shouting advertisement for what they were selling. The wind blew into your hair and you had to hold a hand up to keep it out of your face. The vibration of everyone's spiritual pressure hummed like a thousand running cars around you.

You felt two strong spirit energies darting in your direction from the side, so you took a large step forward to avoid them. They went careening into the stall on the opposite side and you couldn't help but glance in that direction. Two little kids, a girl and a boy that looked no older than ten or eleven, had been running so fast that they hadn't noticed where they were going.

The shopkeeper got up and yelled at the two kids, failing his arms around so wildly is was as if they were made of jelly. You saw the kids shrink back, their mouths forming an apology, but the owner was relentless. You glanced around and saw that people were to take notice of the commotion and stare. Then you noticed it.

Not all of them were staring at the kids.

The kids' actions pulled at your heartstrings, so you felt compelled to interfere.

"There you are!" You called out and scooped the two kids into your arms. They squeaked and whirled around to face you. Their faces were dirty and their short brown hair was matted. Their clothes didn't look much better than the rest of them, but they had a mischievous gleam in their eye despite the frightened looks they showed you. The two kids, presumably brother and sister now, recovered quickly.

"Big sister!" They yelled in unison and wrapped their small arms around your neck. They were squeezing so hard you thought that they were going to choke you, but you managed to hang onto your breath.

You turned to the shop owner and bowed your head. "I'm sorry about my siblings, Sir." You glanced up at him and chuckled, faking being embarrassed. "They love to have races so much, they just often don't watch where they're going."

As soon as your gaze met the salesman's, he froze. You felt the air still. Then it slowly decreased in temperature. Only one thought crossed your mind.

'I've done it again.'

"N-no. I-I'm sorry ab-bout it." He quickly darted behind his mildly wrecked cart and didn't reappear again. You glanced around you, and people immediately went back to what they were going before you arrived. The air stirred again, and the temperature dissipated with the wind. But your heart only became heavier.

After walking a few blocks and turning a corner to head into an alleyway, you set the twins down on the ground and they smiled widely. You then slipped one hand in each of their yukatas and took out the wallets they had stolen with a smile on your face.

Their jaws dropped open and scrambled to retrieve the re-stolen wallets. You held them just out of their reach as they tried with all their might to grab the pouches from your grasp.

"I knew it was too good to be true!" The brother whined as he leapt into the air, coming up once again empty handed. "You just wanted to steal our stuff!"

"I'm not stealing your stuff, I'm forcing you to return them. Got that?" You raised a knowing eyebrow.

"Eh?!" The siblings exclaimed at the same time.

"Now," you started, tucking the three wallets away into your uniform. Then you crouched down to their level, and smiled sweetly. "Let's start with introductions, okay?" The two glanced at each apprehensively. To lighten their mood, you decided to go first.

"My name is (Y/n). I'm a soul reaper in the Thirteenth seat of the Tenth Squad."

The girl paused her attempt at retrieval and giggled. "Thirteenth tenth," she seemed to mutter under her breath.

"Oi!" Her brother smacked the back of her head. "Don't be so comfortable around her!"

"B-but..." her upper lip began to tremble. "She hasn't done anything but help us, a-and I don't want to steal any more." She pushed her two index fingers together.

You let out a breath of air, and when the little boy looked at you, you gave him a closed eye smile. The tension in the air quickly diminished to virtually nothing. When you cracked an eye open, the boy's entire face was red, and you couldn't help but chuckle.

"Here," you stood up and held a hand out toward each sibling. "If you go with me and return the pouches you stole, I'll give you each something in return. You don't even need to tell me your names. Deal?" You smiled affectionately.

A large smile formed on the girl's lips. "Deal!" And she grabbed your hand. Your cold hands enveloped her warm ones. She recoiled a little at the temperature, and you apologized at their lack of warmth. She didn't say anything, but she gripped your hand tighter, and the act made the weight on your heart a little lighter.

"Don't go grabbing her hand, idiot!" The brother scolded his sister, but he too had grabbed the hand stretched out to him. You chuckled and smiled down at him. He glanced away and seemingly mumbled, "Stop smiling at me like that. It makes me want to like you."

You couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Stop that, woman! I refused to be laughed at!" The boy snapped at you.

"Woman?" You raised an eyebrow at him. "I told you my name was (Y/n)." You glanced in front of you towards the horizon. "Since I don't know your names, what should I call you?"

The girl tugged on your hand, trying to get you to look at her, and so you did. Little did she know, she just made sure that you didn't miss a word she was going to say.

"Since my brother is giving me dirty looks, you can call me Ai, even though it's not my name." She scratched her cheek cutely.

You smiled. "I see no problem with doing that." You turned to the the glaring boy. "And what should I call you?" When he noticed your expectant gaze, he visibly stumbled over his words.

"I-um, you-uh--"

Vibrations resonated from Ai's direction so you turned to face her. "Could you say that again?"

"Sure!" Her brother immediately started failing around in an attempt to stop her. Your firm grip on his hand kept him far enough away so he couldn't cover his sister's mouth. "I said: You can call him Usa!"

Usa appeared to deflate right before your very eyes. He comically collapsed onto the ground, the only thing holding him up was his hand holding yours. You chuckled and hauled him off the ground to where he was at least standing on his own two feet and not threatening to pull you down with him.

"I think Usa suits you." You smiled at him and when he glanced up at you, his face turned beet red and he quickly glanced away. You chuckled and let go of both of their hands to ruffle the children's hair.

"I really enjoy having you around. You make me laugh more than usual." A grin spread across your face, but even you could feel that this one was a little forced. Although what you said to the kids was true, it wasn't exactly what you wanted to say.

I'm glad that there are others that I can spend time with that don't base how they treat me on the rumors they hear.

"There!" Ai pointed, and your gaze followed her imaginary finger line. "The plain brown wallet belongs to him!" You fished out the wallet with the corresponding color and walked up to the man.

He was glancing around frantically, and you could assume that we was looking for something, most likely the very thing you now held. Holding out the pouch to the man, you offered the best smile you could. "Is this yours?"

He turned, and his face lit up when he saw his wallet. "Thank you so very much, young miss!" He took the wallet and bowed to a right angle. "I can't thank you enough!"

You raised your hands in a surrender gesture. "It's no problem. Try not to lose it again though."

He glanced up and said, "Of course...!" His face paled. You tried to ignore how your chest tightened as his expression turned from happiness to fear. You glanced back to see if the kids were still preoccupied with each other, and thankfully, they were.

"I'll let you go to your own business then." You turned your back to the man and faced the twins, ushering them further into the market, only glancing back once to see that the man was still in the same position you had let him in. Perfectly still, perfectly frozen in fear. Your head dipped down in shame. There was a tug at your sleeve and you looked up to see Ai gazing at you worriedly.

"Are you alright, (Y/n) onee-san?" Your chest fluttered at what she called you. She had just called you her big sister. You chuckled light heartedly and felt yourself grin widely.

"I'm fine," you said, which was a complete lie, but you didn't want her to worry about it. She had just unintentionally made she and her brother the highlight of your day. "Come on," you smiled, tugging them slightly faster along. "We still have to return the other two pouches."

-

Ai sat with a vibrating puff of air on the nearby wooden box. She stretched her arms above her head and legs in front of her, and next to her sat her brother with a seemingly slightly more irritated vibrating puff of air. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him copy his sister but to a smaller scale.

"Come on," Usa groaned as he propped up his torso with his arms behind him. "You said you were going to give us something special if we returned all the things we stole. So, when are we going to get it?"

You smiled at him. "Patience is a virtue, Usa." He pouted cutely and your smile grew. So precious. With that you stood up and brushed yourself off of any dust or other particles that might have gathered. Two pairs of eyes followed your motions until you turned to face them. "But I think that you two have waited long enough." You rested your hands on your knees to lower your head to their level. "Let's head over to the food market already." Their chapped lips spread into grins and the siblings shot to their feet in unison.

"Alright!" Ai cheered and charged forward, wrapping a hand around your own and spinning you around. She charged onward and dragged you behind her. A different hand wrapped around your other hand, and you looked to see Usa trailing behind the two of you.

Eventually Ai slowed her pace until both twins were walking at the same speed as you. You tried to make them walk a little faster. You could feel the other people's judgmental stares, and with the sheer amount, you couldn't be sure the brother and sister wouldn't notice. Sure enough, your worries were confirmed when Ai scooted closer to you and whispered, "Why do they keep staring as us?"

You didn't have a good answer.

The people's scathing glares and disgusted looks would make anyone question why they're getting looks like that, so you understood why she would ask. You just wished she hadn't noticed. A bad feeling pooled in your stomach, similar in the way that a newly opened container of syrup collects in the pockets of waffles.

You couldn't tell them why they were suddenly hated by everyone, why their life would never be the same again, why people were staring.

Your heart dropped as Usa leaned in too and whispered, "No, Ai. I don't think what they're staring at it us." He looked up to meet your stoic face with an almost frighted one of his own, and even went as far as to take a step away from you. "They're staring at her."

Ai's face quickly mirrored her brother's frightened expression as she looked up towards you. "Why are the staring at you?"

There is was. The golden question. Your mind scrambled for an answer that wasn't along the lines of "they believe the rumors of me completely and whole heartedly".

You looked ahead and felt your eyes grow distant. "People... People don't take kindly to what they don't understand. The natural reaction to something new is being cautious with it, if not preparing for an attack." You smiled bitterly, recalling your early days in training when you would be picked on my virtually everyone. Although, he was your one saving grace. "I just so happen to be something that people don't understand yet." You looked down to Ai.

"People weren't built to accept others. They were built to survive by whatever means necessary. I just so happen to fall into the category of a 'threat to survival' in their minds."

______

(A/N) Merry Christmas to those of you that celebrate it! I hope you have a very wonderful next year!

~Violet out