Pendulum - The Butterfly Effect (Bleach FF)

7: A Helpful Soul

* The Pendulum swings forward 7 months in time *

Over time, I finally began to feel completely at home. Chores, jobs for the villagers, and exploring kept me busy, and these days I very rarely thought about getting my memories back. My blurry recollections came to me occasionally when I experienced something unusual or out of my routine. Some thoughts and memories felt out of place like they weren't my own or came from a long-forgotten dream though I tried not to let it bother me anymore. I did sometimes try to cross-examine them, or what I could make sense of them seeing as they were mostly a jumbled mess of fuzzy images, but as Granny Chie had advised I no longer let them eat away at my mind.

Seven or so months had passed since I had arrived in Harumachi and today Yuu and I were out on a job not from a villager, but from Granny Chie herself.

We didn't know why, but she had specifically asked the two of us to head up to the meadows and bring back the wood of the Royal Empress tree. She didn't give a reason but she made it quite clear that the wood must be in good condition, cut into large logs and not damaged. We knew better than to question the odd request as Granny could be quite stern at times and neither of us fancied a lecture, so we grabbed breakfast and headed out.

"You do realise that she probably won't pay us for this, right?" Yuu asked.

"Meh, probably not." I shrugged while securing my wood carrying box tighter over my shoulders. "She'll probably say I'm being paid in training experience, which is fair enough I guess but I won't say no to pocket money or lunch though," I smirked.

I had quite the savings account already, and I had stopped stuffing myself on cakes recently too after I decided that I needed to get fit.

Even with all the walking and exercise I did, junk food did me no good but if someone gave it as a thank you, I couldn't say no. That would be rude. Or that's what I told myself anyway.

Yuu, being the more intelligent of the two of us, had decided before leaving to borrow the physician's encyclopedia of nature to aid us in searching for the tree in question so we knew what to look for. It took me that long to notice that I was heading out blind and gave me her usual eye-roll when she noticed my surprise.

"What were you going to do, pick any old stump and hope for the best? You're such a dummy sometimes" she giggled. But once we reached the meadow it was hard to not notice which tree it was as it was easily towered over everything else in the area and was completely unique it as if it had sprouted by magic in ancient times.

"Okay, we're here. This big one right in front." Yuu pointed out as we arrived, comparing it with the one in the book. It was far bigger than the first tree I had climbed back in the food orchard months ago, this one had to be at least eighty foot tall, with bright lilac flowers blooming all the way up as far as the eye could see.

I grinned and began stretching my legs in a warm-up. "Perfect, just what I need." I took off the wood carrying box and dropped it next to Yuu and tightened the tool belt around my waist.

"Be careful, last time you did this you lost your footing and-"

"Please don't remind me, that was humiliating. There's no one around to see me fall this time. Here I go,"

"I'll time you!"

I bounced up and down on the spot for a moment, crouched down low and then shot off in a burst of speed. Yuu watched as the pressure of my feet leaving the spot left a dust cloud and a small crater in the soft dirt.

Within seconds I was scrambling higher up the tree like a crazed monkey. First branch, tenth branch, thirtieth branch, fifty-foot, sixty foot. I glanced over my shoulder to see Yuu's little dark dot get smaller and smaller and then I broke the treetops.