It was a beautiful day in Karakura. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and there was not a giant soul eating monster in sight. At least, excluding himself. He usually excluded himself from generalities of hollows, as he liked to think that he was on a different level of understanding than most, but this was just personal opinion. If he truly looked deeply into his own psyche he would probably find too many similarities for his delicate mental state to bare. For a moment he looked deeper, his face twisting slightly into a frightened scowl as the beast bubbled under the surface, but he shook his head and cleared his mind of all such depressing thoughts.

Today, at least, he would be free of worries. He would force himself to forget all the pressing duties, the strange new beings that had appeared from no where, the constant political struggle with the family, the annoying needs and wants of all his arrancar, and most importantly, how much he missed Bestia. He honestly just needed a day where he could focus on himself, allow his inner turmoil mind to get some peace and quiet from the tumults of the world. And what a better way to do this than a nice relaxing spa package in an incredibly upper-class bathhouse.

He was giddy with apprehension, his face glowing with excitement. It had been so long since he had been to the spa, and he could not wait for the massages, the mud baths, the hot springs, and most importantly, the facials. The stress of leadership was starting to show on his normally youthful face, creating small lines on his brow from the stress. He really needed some nice exfoliating cream and some cucumbers to just take his cares away. A day of soft music, relaxation, and not being bothered by any super natural beings would be just perfect.

As he walked he created his gigai, his clothes appearing from nowhere and his hair color slightly changing tints from its normal dark brown to a lighter dirty blonde. His face slightly shifted, his nose being a bit less pronounced, his lips becoming a bit more full. Overall it was a minor change, but enough to make him look like the fake ID that he had used to create this persona. He pulled out his wallet and leafed through the 100k yen bills there, making sure he would have enough for the spa package. Normally people would need to reserve a spot in the busy spa, but Arekussu’s persona, Mr John William Bell, was a wealthy entrepreneur that sold numerous spa products around the world, and this very spa was one of his clients. They would let him in without question.

He capped his spiritual pressure as much as possible, but anyone with sensing capabilities would be able to spot him from a mile away. He did not want to put too much effort into it as capping his substantial spiritual pressure took a lot of concentration and effort, something Arekussu did not want to focus on today. He walked towards the entrance to the spa thinking that if someone did show up he just hoped he could reason with them.

Enma was curiously browsing all the choices of things to do at the spa. Wondering around, no humans could see her, so the high class bath house came to her as the simple price of free.

She simply would slip into a hot spring or mud bath until the paying patron arrived. As she wondered around she had found herself wearing a geisha kimono, as a few had come here to relax.

She was staring at herself in the mirror when she felt a familiar presence. It was Arekussu! Still in the geisha's clothes she walked to the front to greet him.

Arekussu was almost at the entrance to the spa when he felt a familiar presence. He stopped for a moment and took a second to place the source of the reitsu, and found that it was the reitsu of Enma Illius, his ex fraccion who had left his side a few months ago to join the Bone Army. He wondered what she was doing here, as the Bone Army had been disbanded as far as he knew. He had never even thought to have a spy track her down, and he would not have done it even if the idea had crossed his mind. He had reconciled things with her the last time they had met and he did not want to muddle it moore with further confrontation.

But he was going to have a day at the spa! It didn’t matter if he needed to drudge up old relationships to do it, he wanted to relax today. He solidified his features and walked boldy into the spa entrance, reaching out instinctively to the right to grab the robe and guest pass from the waiting attendant. His face remained focused as he walked up to Enma, his eyes quickly scanning the area and taking a few things into account.

First of all, Enma was still just a spirit, as no one was looking directly at her and people seemed to be walking right passed her without a glance. Second, she was wearing a geisha’s robe, obviously not hers as made apparent by the larger shoulders and the way it only slightly sagged in the wrong areas. Third, as far as he could tell, there were no other spiritual beings in this spa, meaning she was here alone. That last thing relaxed him a little bit, as he was fairly sure he wouldn’t have to worry about some powerful being appearing from nowhere and attacking him. Enma seemed to attract powerful men to protect her for some odd reason.

As he calmed down, his stride shortened and his gate became less focused and more aloof, closer to his normal way of acting. He walked right by Enma, pretending he couldn’t see her, as it would look really weird if he just randomly started speaking to thin air. He did turn back for a moment and winked at her, knowing that directly behind her stood the female attendant that had handed him a robe. The attendant blushed and looked away, but the wink had of course been aimed at Enma. He turned back in the direction he had been walking and nodded his head towards the door he was about to enter, telling Enma to follow him. Hopefully it would get the message across.

Enma's eyes followed Arekussu as he crossed in front of her and winked at her. She smiled. Obviously he couldn't talk to her, he would look like a crazy person. The human following him assumed the wink was for her and was blushing. Enma thought: Bitch, please."

She followed Arekussu as he nodded to a door. It was obvious she was meant to follow him. She hoped the stupid human wouldn't think of it as an advance to her again. Pffft.

Enma spoke, knowing Arek could not yet respond. I always wanted to be a Geisha. Aren't I pretty? She was very proud of her outfit.