To Absent Friends And A Fresh Start (Leona, Armina)

As much as Leona appreciated the offer the blonde ex-Shinigami would not need to drop Armina's name to get the bellicose patrons of the gym to leave her alone, not when she had a good command of Hakuda and the will to use it. However, hearing that some of them would also be former Shinigami made the blonde reconsider her stance. Perhaps using the former Fourth Seat's name would be a way to solve problems without having to resort to violence. If it was truly a way out of conflict Leona would need to use it sparingly because overusing the boon would imply that she relied on someone to save her when she got into trouble instead of being strong enough to take care of herself.

"I'll use your name if I have to, but I'll use it only when there's no other way to solve the problem." Leona assured Armina that the gift would not be wasted on just any minor problem. Ideally the blonde would never need to use the blue-haired woman's name, but realistically she might have to if violence was not a feasible method of conflict resolution. Choosing to move on from that subject to focus on what she was being told about Bankai and its place in an ideal skillset, Leona listened closely until Armina was finished talking before speaking.

"I agree completely, Armina." Leona voiced her agreement with Armina's wise words. Bankai would undoubtedly be an invaluable asset, but it alone would not be enough to give the blonde victory in a fight. She would need more than just Bankai... she would need both the ability to discern when to use the considerable but temporary power boost to best effect and a balanced skillset to help her keep fighting in case her opponent was still standing after its use.

"If I have to teach them a lesson I will." Leona said without further elaboration. Aside from that one time when she was overwhelmed, tied up, and taken into a back alley to be fondled by Rukongai hoodlums in her neighborhood she had never been the "damsel in distress" sort who always needed someone to bail her out of trouble. The blonde was usually more than able to take care of herself thanks to the lessons in Hakuda and mundane hand-to-hand combat her older brother had taught her a long time ago and real-world combat experience gained in World War IV.

"As far as I know neither of my older siblings has attained Bankai... yet. I say it that way since I don't keep up with them like I should. That's because I was so focused on service in the Fourth Division that I slept in the barracks more than I slept at home." Leona answered and added a reason for the somewhat vague nature of her response. The third sentence might sound like she was being sarcastic, but she was only telling the truth. She had been so firmly committed to her identity as a Fourth Division member that at one point Lucia had joked that her sister was named "Leona Fourth Division" rather than "Leona Sheridan." Now that her old division was no more the blonde could be a Sheridan again.

"Even without Bankai in the picture I'm still competing with them because they've been Shinigami a lot longer than I have. I'm always trying to catch up to them, but we're not in competition with each other. In fact they encourage me to catch up to them, especially my older sister." Leona added a bit of information about the relationship between the Sheridan siblings. Leonidas and Lucia were supportive of their younger sister even though they had disagreed with her choice of division from the time Leona had told her family which one she had enlisted in. Their doubts did not prevent them from supporting their younger sister by offering words of encouragement and the occasional lesson in Hakuda or Zanjutsu.

"I grew up in the Rukongai. The 58th District of North Rukongai, to be more exact. It wasn't as bad as some of the other neighborhoods in the North, but the 58th had its share of hoodlums running around and causing mischief. Some of it was small-time stuff like vandalism, but on occasion there would be worse behavior like a mugging every now and then. The worst I dealt with was things like the local riffraff trying to slap my backside and run away or hit on me repeatedly, but that was probably because I was from a family of Shinigami who were actively serving." Leona started off explaining why gaining power and getting more of it were goals she pursued with such determination. While she had no solid evidence to support her hypothesis, she had always suspected that her family's status as active Shinigami had spared her household the worst of what the 58th District had to offer. However, that did not save her from the events of that fateful night, a night that she was willing to discuss with Armina only because the blue-haired Shinigami had been completely honest with her.

Leona's mood visibly changed from relaxed to tense and if Armina were perceptive enough she might pick up on a bit of reluctance to speak on the blonde's part. That was due to how personal the next story would be. After almost a minute of hesitation that was not for dramatic effect Leona finally broke the silence.

"I'll tell you more, but I'd like to speak to you about it in private, Armina." Leona requested of the blue-haired woman, dropping a large hint that what would be said next was not for just anyone to hear. If the taller woman knew of a place where it could be just the two of them the conversation would continue there. If there was nowhere private available Leona just might have to settle for discussing the fateful night that was the catalyst for her drive to acquire power and hope that no one else took too much of an interest in what would be discussed.

Armina must have had connections for her to get them a private area with no trouble whatsoever. That or the bartender did not want to cross the blue-haired woman. Either way Leona was not complaining because now the two had the privacy Leona felt was necessary to discuss a personal matter without any unwanted listeners. When Armina sat down after shutting the door behind them Leona spoke to her.

"Yes, what I'm about to tell you next is worse than what I discussed earlier." Leona confirmed what Armina had suspected. The blonde took a quiet breath. She was about to take an unpleasant trip down Memory Lane and it showed on her face.

"Back when I was a teenager living in my neighborhood in North Rukongai and back before I became a Shinigami things were kinda rough for young women. Like I said earlier, the local riffraff either ran up and tried to slap my backside before running away laughing or ran up and tried to squeeze it with their entire hand. Sometimes they would succeed and sometimes they wouldn't. It was annoying and embarrassing, but I could chalk it up to people letting their hormones think for them." Leona started off by retelling what she had already told Armina in public. That was to set the stage for the next part of the story.

"I don't remember when exactly that started, but it was probably when I was around sixteen. On occasion things would get worse than someone just trying to touch my backside. When that happened I usually ended up trapped in an alley with my back literally to the wall. I'd get out of that predicament with a well-timed dodge and sheer speed, but more than once the timing was too close for comfort. For example, one time as I was running away someone grabbed the back of my skirt and it ripped almost all the way down... I had to hold it on and hold it together with my hands the best I could until I could get home." Leona said next. That was one of the closest calls she had ever had prior to the fateful night her luck ran out. With only a slight delay the blonde continued her tale.

"That occasion prompted my older brother to teach me how to defend myself. He taught me both Hakuda and mundane hand-to-hand combat so that I could fight my way out if I ever got trapped again. That was a game-changer. The next time a group of hoodlums tried to corner me I successfully fought my way out by punching the leader in the nose and breaking it, then giving another guy a black eye when he tried to stop me from running away. That was when I first discovered that I liked fighting." Leona told Armina where she had first found out that fighting was her forte. It was far from the most noble of reasons, but it was the truth. Leona had become tired of being mistreated by the local riffraff and was not going to tolerate it any longer if she had any say in the matter.

"For three years I went from success to success. Sure, I took my share of hits in return, but every time some random goon got it in his head to treat me like a plaything and touch me where I didn't want to be touched I put them in their place. I didn't start fights and I didn't go looking for them, but if someone started trouble with me I didn't back down." The blonde gave a short version of what happened after Leonidas had given her self-defense lessons. After that her face showed visible tension and reluctance because she was coming to the most unpleasant part of the story, the one that had made her request to speak with Armina in private. That was the night her luck finally ran out and she found herself in a bad situation with no way out.

"Then one night the worst happened." Leona started before stopping to take another quiet breath. She extended the pause to give Armina a chance to talk... and to prepare herself to recount the worst moment of her life to date.

"All right." Leona said simply. She took one last quiet breath, then began to speak. She did not need to try very hard to remember the tale because the events of that night were always with her.

"One night when I was nineteen I was confronted by a gang of a dozen hoodlums. They wanted me to go with them to have some "fun" and I refused. They wouldn't take no for an answer and a fight broke out. They were a barely coordinated mob, so I was able to pick out individual people and fight them one-on-one. I was landing hits and holding my own until I got punched in the back of the head by someone I didn't see. After that things went downhill fast." Leona started the story.

"Once I hit the ground it wasn't even a fight because I couldn't do anything but lie on my stomach and be kicked in the ribs from multiple directions until they decided to stop. I don't remember how long I was there, but at the end of the kicking I could barely breathe. Then my hands were pulled behind my back and tied together and not too long after that my ankles were tied together too." Leona recounted the aftermath of the beating she had received once she had been knocked to the ground. If Armina thought that was bad she had not heard anything yet. What the blonde was about to tell her was not even the worst part.

"Once I was tied up they stood me up and took me into a back alley. I was made to face a wall and once I did one of the gang slammed my face into it repeatedly. It might have been three times, it might have been four or five, maybe even six, but it was definitely more than once. Once they had gotten bored with doing that the guy spun me around and punched me in the left eye over and over again... when he finished hitting me I couldn't see out of it because it was swollen shut." The blonde informed Armina of what had happened once the hoodlums were done kicking her when she was down. After that she paused for almost a minute. It was time to tell the worst part of the story, the moment that was undoubtedly the most humiliating in her life.

"Once the gang was certain that I had been beaten into submission one of them tore open my outfit top and exposed my bra for everyone to see. It was a modest black one, but that's beside the point. All of them stared at my chest and made comments about how big it was before one of them started fondling my breasts. Another guy started groping my backside and after that things got very degrading very fast." Leona told the worst part of the tale.

"Each hoodlum waited anxiously for their turn to fondle me and a few of them could barely control themselves. My hands and feet were tied, so I couldn't do anything but stand there and take it while trying to struggle out of the ropes. I don't know how long I was standing there being mistreated, but I know that all twelve of them got a turn to fondle me to their heart's content." The blonde added more detail about what happened in her most vulnerable moment. Her left hand involuntarily went over her chest and stayed there for a minute or two as she visibly hesitated to continue. Finding the will to press on despite how she was feeling, Leona did so.

"All of that was bad enough, but the moment one of the hoodlums put their hand up my skirt and placed it on the inner thigh of my right leg I was afraid that getting handsy wasn't all they were going to do to me. I was scared that they were going to do something even worse, but before the guy could make another move my luck changed for the better. My older brother and sister showed up in their Shinigami uniforms and had their zanpakutos at their sides. Both of them looked like they were ready to kill each and every one of the guys in the gang." Leona told about one of the few moments in her life she had felt genuine fear. There was an ancient saying that went "The darkest hour is just before dawn" and that had certainly applied to the blonde at that dark moment in her life. She looked down at herself and noticed that her left hand was still on her chest, but her right hand had went down to the front of her pants leg and stopped at the point that corresponded to the length of the skirt she had worn; that point was roughly above her knees. Leona knew that Armina was not going to mistreat her like the gang of young men had, but the blonde had still involuntarily protected herself like she was unable to on that night.