I looked at this strange man as his face twitched into an amused gin. "Stranger from far away, why don't you come and enjoy a drink with me? I can offer a cup of sake to a guest."
[Looks like someone was found out.]
"I guess trying to convince you that I'm a Shinigami won't work?" I walked over.
"It might, you never know." He shrugged.
"In that case, I'm definitely a Shinigami." I said without a hint of shame.
"Oh, and what division are you from?" He asked, still amused by the conversation.
I pulled open Kimono slightly and looked inside. "It says Eight on it, so I'm assuming the Eighth Division."
He snorted, looking like he wanted to laugh, but kept a straight face. "As the Captain of the Eighth Division, I think I would know who is under me."
"Do you?" I took a shot in the dark.
"He doesn't." A woman stepped out from the side, slamming a door behind her. She wore a wooden badge on her arm that read 'Lieutenant'. She could easily be called a beauty with a very cold and neat appearance. She was rather cute, pushing up her glasses with a stern look.
"Nanao…." He whined in front of her. "Of course I know my subordinates. I memorized all their names."
"Name Five." She said evenly. He opened his mouth but she interjected again. "That Aren't women."
"...." He coughed awkwardly. "Welcome to the Eighth Division, friend." He turned back towards me."
Well, he seemed easy going. I took a seat opposite of him at the little table. "Jokes aside, what gave it away? Was it my dashing good looks?"
"Yes." He replied without a second thought. "The Old Man won't let me only recruit women, so I made sure that all the men under me won't be competition." He nodded sagely.
"…..I respect your wisdom."
"Ohoh, I appreciate the praise." He grinned.
"Be serious!" The woman next to him smacked him on the back of the head. "You both are completely shameless."
"She's cute when she gets mad." I pointed out.
"Haha, she's the jewel of our Eighth Division." He chuckled, not disgruntled at her antics.
"Why did I let you convince me to not report him?" She facepalmed.
"Don't be like that Nanao~" He took a sip of his Sake. "Technically, we haven't been ordered to capture any nefarious Ryoka."
"And I'm a Shinigami." I pointed out.
"Right, he's a Shinigami." The Captain in front of me nodded.
"….do you think that excuse will work with the Captain Commander?"
"….I'll worry about that later." He shivered slightly.
"There were a bunch of Shinigami moving with a purpose earlier. Were they not trying to capture this supposed handsome and charming intruder?" I asked, a little curious as to what was actually going on.
"This always happens when the walls come down." He hummed, taking another sip. "It doesn't happen that often, but we have to treat it as an invasion regardless. Most of the time, it's one or two naughty kids from the Rukongai that get too close to the Seireitei and cause the commotion."
That sounds like a headache…..
Though, it would probably make for good impromptu drills when it does happen.
"However, if we discover an intruder, we're supposed to report it immediately." The woman next to him huffed.
"Well, it's a good thing I'm an official Shinigami, and certainly not someone who snuck in." I helped myself to a cup of Sake he poured.
"Haha, it's a good thing, you're right. Otherwise, I'd have to arrest you." He chuckled. "Thankfully, none of my subordinates were killed or hurt too bad. I don't think I could share a cup of Sake with someone who really harmed them."
Ah, he was being kind because I was soft with them, huh. Despite smacking them around, there wasn't really any overt harm. Especially since they are spiritual beings, a few hits on the noggin aren't going to cause any major damage.
"It seems like this invader isn't the type to just wantonly slaughter, so you won't have to worry about your subordinates around here turning up dead. He won't kill anyone." I casually took a sip.
"Good, good." He smiled gently before turning a little dark. "I would hate to have to hunt down the one responsible."
I raised an eyebrow at his Reiatsu leaking out slightly. "Scary."
"Haha, well, I don't prefer fighting. Why not sit down and discuss our differences over a nice cup of sake?" He laughed happily.
"I can't say I disagree." It was a refreshing mindset to have.
"However, I am a little curious. An idle thought, I hope you don't mind helping me."
"I'll do what I can to help my captain." I responded rather cheekily.
"The thing is, I'm wondering where someone would be able to get ahold of one of my Subordinates' uniforms. And possibly – one of their Zanpakutō."
"Hypothetical speaking, someone might have ran into a couple of thugs shaking down some poor people in the Rukongai."
"I certainly hope they aren't dead. Even if my subordinates need to be justifiably punished, I can't allow someone who murdered them to walk around." His smile disappeared.
"I wouldn't worry about that." I waved off his concern even if I already said I didn't kill anyone. "They should probably be coming back soon, having to explain why they lost their uniforms and swords."
He pulled down his hat a little, his cheery expression shifted again. "I see. In that case, I'm sure I'll seek out a very detailed explanation about what they've been up to."
Hmm, maybe all Shinigami aren't bad after all? I can't say I've interacted with them enough to form an opinion exclusively on one way or another.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! Where are my manners." His cheerful expression returned quickly. "Captain of the eighth Division, Shunsui Kyōraku. And this is my Lieutenant – Nanao Ise." He gestured to the woman standing at his side.
Though, she stayed silent, glaring at him the entire time. I had a feeling she didn't quite approve of how he was apparently handling my 'presence'.
"A pleasure." I would be polite as well. "You can call me Kurosaki Ichigo. I sometimes like to dye my hair orange and I prefer that people know my name means – Strawberry."
[You're a special kind of petty.]
Oh, what's the worst that can happen? I'm just having a little bit of fun. In the worst case, someone gets confused.
[Whatever you say, Watermelon.]
The corners of his lips twitched. "I have a feeling you aren't being truthful."
"I swear on my honor as a Shinigami." I said with complete seriousness.
He threw his head back, letting out a laugh. "You're an interesting kid." He calmed down again, pouring himself another cup. "If you don't mind me asking, how'd a human end up here?"
"What?!" His Lieutenant blurted out, her expression shifted. "How can he be a human?"
"Ara, Nanao, you're good at sensing Reiatsu, don't tell me you didn't notice it either." He said calmly.
"But..."
"Oh, you're pretty good. What gave it away?" Was there a point in keeping this game going?
"It wasn't hard to tell, your Reiatsu isn't concealed very well. I'm sure if any other Captain got close, they'd notice too. Though…..your Reiatsu is really strange, I wasn't sure you were human at first."
"….It shouldn't be possible for a human to come here. Not unless they had outside help." She looked at me strangely.
"There aren't many places I can't go." I smiled towards her. "Don't worry, no one helped me. There isn't some kind of conspiracy going on that you have to worry about."
"Are we just supposed to believe that!?"
"I believe you." The Captain said casually.
Nanao sighed in exasperation.
"Honestly, I just came to take a look around." I revealed.
"Oh, and what do you think?" He asked.
"You want my honest opinion?"
"Honesty is better than false flattery." He nodded.
"This place is a shithole."
"Pfft." He nearly choked on his drink. "Guess I asked for that. You did say you were in the lower districts of the Rukongai."
"The Seiretei is nice, I can admire that it's elegant and refined. There is definitely a regal air to this place. But you literally have to take a step outside to see the huge contrast. I heard this was supposed to be heaven. In which case, I'm severely disappointed, because in Heaven, a good amount of people can't even have shoes."
He scratched his cheek awkwardly.
I don't think he expected me to be so blatant with my grievances about this place.
"Your Sake isn't bad though." I decided to change the subject. From the look he had, he seemed to genuinely feel bad about what I said. I have no idea what kind of responsibilities he has, so I don't know if I can hold that kind of thing over his head. "Not the best I've had, but it has a unique flavor."
"Hah, I don't have any of the good stuff right now. I'll need to wait until we get our annual budget before I can sneak some more." He chuckled.
"What was that?" His lieutenant glared.
"You misheard me." He coughed awkwardly.
"Well, you've been courteous and treated me like a guest despite how I….arrived. I don't mind sharing some of my own with you."
"Oh?" His eyes brightened up.
"Though….can you digest stuff from the living world?" The question popped into my head. A Servant can, they convert everything they digest into Magical Energy. "As a Spiritual being I'm assuming all sustenance is converted into your internal Reiryoku? Does that also apply to stuff from the living world?"
"Don't worry, we can handle living stuff fine."
I shrugged, looking through my ring and deciding on a couple things. "I have a thirty year old Brandy here, how about it?"
His eyes sparkled as I took it out. He didn't even question from where, his eyes focused solely on the bottle in my hand. "A rare surprise." He clapped his hands. "It's hard to get that kind of thing even when I go out to the living world."
"Consider it a token of thanks." I handed it over. Politeness should be returned with politeness. He shared his Sake with me, so it's only right. "And an apology."
"An apology?" He stopped looking at the bottle in his arms.
"I may have lied a little." I gestured, holding two fingers a little apart. "I said I only came here to look around. I may have had another agenda."
He put the bottle down to the side like it was a priceless treasure. "As long as it's not against the law….I don't mind lending a hand to a friend."
"How difficult would it be to get my hands on an Asauchi?" I questioned, cutting straight to the point.
"An Asauchi?" He repeated. "Do you want your own Zanpakutō? Humans can't develop one, you'll just be wasting your time."
"Eh, I just want one to have it." I may have fibbed a little bit more.
He scratched his cheek again. "I actually don't know if it's against the law or not to give one to a human. None have ever come here asking." He paused, looking up to Nanao. "What do you think?"
"I think the Central 46 will get angry if you let it happen." She said evenly.
"Ooh." He smiled meekly. "That wouldn't be good."
"Well, then on a completely unrelated note. Would there happen to be a place where one could acquire an Asuachi?" I shifted my question slightly.
"Do you really think –"
"The Academy." Captain Shunsui immediately replied, cutting off his subordinate. "Did you know that every Shinigami gets their own Asauchi at the Academy? They keep about a Hundred spare ones there between each new shipment from what I know."
His lieutenant face palmed again.
"Uh,huh." I nodded, somewhat knowledgeable about this, if vaguely. "And if someone wanted to find this Academy, say, from the Eighth Division barracks?"
"Then one just needs to head south, it's hard to miss."
"Wonderful." I smiled, sitting up from my spot. I was about to say something, but I caught something out of the corner of my eye.
A strangely colored butterfly flew over, the others noticed it too.
The Lieutenant held her finger out and it landed on her. She looked at it intently, as if she was listening to something.
"Captain." She breathed out, the butterfly flying away. "New orders."
"Oh?"
"We're to capture any Ryoka we find." She looked at me. "It's an order straight from the Central 46."
I blinked at the new development. "What was that?"
"A Hell Butterfly." The Captain responded, pushing himself up to his feet. "It's how we Shinigami send and receive orders from different places. It's hard to send runners when the Seireitei is so big."
"Oh, I suppose you're going to try and apprehend me then?" I crossed my arms.
He smiled awkwardly. "I really don't want to. I prefer to not fight if possible, but a direct order is a direct order, even if I feel like my honor is a little muddled after sharing a drink."
"Can I ask you something?"
"It would be rude of me not to answer at this point." He chuckled sadly.
"Why didn't you just do this from the beginning? I'm all for the peaceful method, but I did beat up some of your division."
"Allegedly." He pointed out.
"Allegedly." I chuckled.
I couldn't help but like this guy, his personality is very easy to get along with.
He let out a sigh. "They've been getting fat and lazy recently. I'd rather they learn a lesson now when their lives aren't threatened than step in every time." He replied. "As for moving myself, I considered it. But I don't think a bad person would willingly come share a drink with me, so I was fine leaving things as they were. I'll try to put in a good word for you. I think worst case, you'll just get kicked out of Soul Society if I can convince the Old Man."
"That's kind of you, but I don't think I'll be getting caught just yet." I glanced at his Lieutenant.
"Nanao, would you please stand back."
I gave him a thankful nod as she retreated a fair distance away.
I held my hand out, letting Mirage appear between my fingers.
"Is that your sword?" His eyes narrowed.
"Mirage." I said rather proudly. I always did like showing off my treasures. I gave it a little swing for him to see, the shimmering and colorful air that pulsed around it.
"Hoh." He tilted his hat down. "I'll reply then." He grabbed the two swords at his waist. "These are my Zanpakutō."
"I didn't know that you could have two." I looked at him with interest.
"It's rare." He grinned. "I'm only one of two."
I gripped Mirage but… "My heart really isn't in this fight." I admitted feeling a little twinge of heistance. I'm all for a good fight, sparring and such. But this was him being forced under order from above and it felt bad. "How about we play a little game instead. A wager?"
"A wager?" He perked up.
"If I lose, I'll surrender quietly. If you lose, you let me go?"
He took a moment to mull it over. "I can give you a head start."
"That works too."
"What do you have in mind, I can't guarantee I'll agree."
"I bet I can make you drop your swords with three words."
He looked at me with amusement again. "Sounds fun. Alright, I'll give you a shot."
[You're a sly bastard.]
I couldn't help but grin. "You ready?"
"I'm curious what you're going to say that'll make me drop my swords." He chuckled.
"Zun Haal Viik!" As soon as the words left my mouth, the world shifted. Even in this realm, the Divine Words echoed out, reverberating through the air.
His eyes widened as the weapons in his hands were already flinging through the air. His swords were no longer grasped, because the laws of the world decided so.
"….well played." He acknowledged, letting out a breath. "Go ahead, I'll pretend that I didn't see you yet."
"Weird, you sound sort of happy when you said that." I looked at him.
He chuckled again. "I'm not a stickler for the rules like some of the others." He walked over, picking up his swords. "Be careful, most other Captains won't play around like I did. And one or two…well, you'll find out that there are in fact fates worse than Death."
"Already figured that you after seening the Rukongai." I deadpanned.
He let out a snort of laughter even if it was sort of self deprecating.
I gave him a nod of thanks before heading out.
He was already being very kind to ignore a supposed order and let me walk away. I didn't want to hang around and push my luck any further.
But now, I have a direction to go for my goal.
I can practically taste my new Zanpakutō.
[***]
Shunsui Kyōraku POV
"Was that a wise decision?" Nanao looked at me.
"I'll probably get an earful from the Old Man later." I walked over, picking up the bottle of brandy.
Haven't had some of this stuff from the living world in years, what a good opportunity this turned out to be. I pulled off the cork to give it a whiff. "Oh, that's high quality."
"Is this really the time to worry about drinking again!?"
"Eh? It's never a bad time for a drink." I shot her a grin.
"Why'd you let him go? You could have easily subdued him." She growled.
"Do you think so?" I asked her.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I won't deny that I wasn't ready to give it my all. But….don't you think there was anything strange about him?"
"….there was something oddly familiar I felt, but….."
"Did you sense his Reiatsu shift when he did whatever he did at the end?" I asked her again, pouring out some of the brandy into one of my cups.
"….no."
"Right, it didn't involve Reiatsu at all. And before you ask, I didn't let him win. You know how competitive I am when it comes to games like that." I took a sip, savoring the flavor as it went down my throat. "That kid has some tricks and was confident enough to walk right into our home. Could have just been arrogance, could have not been. He didn't have any bad intentions, so I didn't wanna make an enemy if I didn't need to."
"How many of our people were sent to the fourth division for treatment?" She countered.
"If they can't handle a kid swinging around a brick then how are they supposed to handle a Hollow?" I looked up at her. "I wasn't kidding y'know. I'd rather they learn a lesson now rather than later." That, and he didn't beat up any of our precious flowers, otherwise I'd have taught him a lesson.
"….how do you know he doesn't have any bad intentions? There were a lot of red flags around him."
"I think I'm pretty good at reading people." I poured myself another cup. "….and I felt kind of bad about what he said. Maybe I was just trying to change his opinion of us."
A human visitor from the living world calling 'heaven', as he put it, a shithole. It was hard not to take that personally and feel some kind of responsibility.
"I'll look into anyone who's causing problems in the Rukongai." She pushed up her glasses, face darkening.
"Scary Nanao is scary." I chuckled. "Feel free to go after them as hard as you want, you have my support."
"How long are you going to let him run wild?"
"Run wild?" I rubbed my chin. "It might be fun to watch everyone scramble after him. I don't think any of the other Captains will make a move until he really lights a fire under us. Though….I may step in if Mayuri gets…..interested."
He seemed like a good kid, and I wouldn't wish the treatment of the R&D division on anyone.
"I'll tell Ukitake to watch out for him too."
"You can be surprisingly soft hearted some times." She shook her head. "You're right…there was something strange about him."
"Eh, let someone else handle him. We can watch from the side lines and step in when he gets caught. I don't think the higher-ups will be too hard on him, he's just a kid – a living one at that. With the amount of Reiatsu he has, he'll end up as one of us eventually, we can just keep an eye on him and wait until then. I don't think they'd wanna lose out on a potential Captain for the future."
"Potential Captain?"
"He didn't release his Reiatsu, but he wasn't very good at hiding it. That much for a human? Even if there were some strange things about it, that's going to only get stronger when he dies. That should be enough to convince the Old Man to be lenient. And it doesn't hurt to have some outside contact for different things."
"….you thought this through, that's even more surprising."
"Sure, I completely thought it through and didn't just make that all up on the spot."
"….I take back what I said, you're shameless. No wonder you got along so well with him, he's just as shameless as you are."
"Thanks for the compliment." I chuckled.
"I'll be watching our budget when we get our annual funds." She huffed. "Don't think you can sneak some away this time."
"Whatever you say, Nanao-chan~"
Heh, she doesn't know that I already got the annual budget and took some funds out.
Though, I'm curious what that kid wants an Asauchi for? I wonder if those old guys will have a heart attack if he somehow manages to turn it into a Zanpakutō.
I can only hope.
[***]
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