Movers and Shakers [Closed]

Sliding the door closed behind him, with a quiet care, he stepped in front of the Captain’s desk with a minimum of wasted motion.  It was a curious thing for a man to be so focused on ; what value did taking only three steps to cross a room have versus taking five at the end of the day?  But it was a habit.  A habit he tried to cultivate and that weaved itself in and out of his everyday life - to consider each step towards furthering his goal...no ‘wasted motion’.

His Captain looked to be her calm, cool, collected, usual self in keeping with her legendary composure and concealed intent.  When they had first met, Tokiyo could still feel the embarrassment at being reduced to  nervous school-girl like levels of fidgeting and small talk...she had a way about her that made you crave to fill in the gaps in your speech and mannerism that she didn’t react to.  As if every social nicety you knew told you that she should react in a certain way, and when she didn’t, you would do anything to accentuate your own subtleties to coax her into reaction.  But she wouldn’t.  Her will was stronger; it always was.  How many countless men and women and hollows and beasts had faced her down...either in an interrogation room, or on the battlefield, or in an office...and lost that battle?

Tokiyo’s own...lack of response was from a decidedly different angle.  He simply didn’t get emotional over things.  Statements and declarations were just facts.  There was no emotional attachment of sentiment if someone were to tell him a school burnt down kill dozens.  It was a catalogued loss of resources, nothing more.  But Kiriko was something else entirely.  An iron wall of obvious secrets.  She might have been crying her eyes out moments before he stepped through the door and he could never know.  She might have been sick as a dog, heaving her guts out, and he could never know.  She might even have just finished the most passionate day of her life in bed with a lover, and not a hair on her head would be even slightly out of place...she betrayed nothing when she spoke unless she precisely meant to and it was glorious to witness.

He smiled politely ; not a forced action but a pleasant declaration that he wasn’t here on any sort of overly sour business.  “My Captain!  I’ve got a couple points of business to bring to your attention, one at your request, and one at my suggestion.”

Closing the distance between himself and the desk, he pulled two manilla folders from the pile of notes and documents he had been clutching in his hand and holding against his body.  One folder was stamped with a black ink and read ‘Sakamoto, Miki’, the other was unlabeled and looked to be more worn...less official.  He rotated them to her facing and laid them on the desk before her, side by side, the folder about the former Captain of the Fourth and General of the Kido Corps on the right.

“The details of the former Captain’s file have not been formally filed and I do not intend to do so without your approval.  I leave it to your discretion as to what should be censored, redacted, or concealed.”  He allowed a few seconds for her to evaluate the implications of his statement before continuing.

“I managed to get to her office and study in the Kido Corps before anyone from another division had done anything except tape the place off.  I was not so fortunate with her personal retreat and office in the Fourth Division’s barracks.  The Sixth wasted little time in pulling that place apart.”

His stance relaxed a bit as the information began to come out.  “She knew she was leaving well before that day...the Incursion, that is.  There wasn’t a shred of material in her Kido Corps office that wasn’t left there as trash.  Nothing personal, not even anything useful.  A few books which were traced to being from one of two easily accessibly libraries and that didn’t appear to have any particular academic or psychological relevance.”

He turned his head slightly, looking over towards the reflecting pool and garden in the center of the grounds.  “Whatever madness that was there was the subtle, creeping sort.  Planted long before any one of us could have done anything about it.  No obvious trigger beyond her own will.”

Tokiyo returned his attention to his Captain.  “I took the liberty of running down the materials in her study and in her personal quarters but I didn’t find anything meaningful except a book that Captain Aizawa was very angry had not been returned to a private library.  There was a lovely girl at the impound office of the Sixth Division who has tragically exploitable ‘daddy issues’.  If you see a need to closer review any of the materials in the inventory I’ve attached, that can be arranged.”

His quip about the girl wasn’t so much an insult as a clinical reference to whatever her nature might be ; a practical statement of fact rather than a judgment.  She was a means to an end and while the details mattered, why the details were what they were strictly did not.

He motioned with his hand to draw her attention to the other folder.  “And this folder is the subject matter of my other assignment.  We can get to that whenever you’re ready.  I’ll of course respond to whatever your concerns and questions are about Sakamoto Miki, whatever they might be.”

Hopeful, is what you might call him.  He was no stranger to paperwork and missions but this is one of the first ones that he had ever presented directly to his Captain.  Ine-taichou certainly never needed them when Tokiyo had served in the Fifth.  Was the other guy still standing?  Yes?  Then you did it wrong.  No?  Job well done.  Good a time as any to find out where his Captain stood on her opinion of him.

Word count // 1020 = 20 || 28 GP

Kiriko watched, hooded eyes taking in everything and revealing nothing at all. She was the blank slate, ready to absorb whatever expectations the people around her produced and use them to her own advantage. It was always best to proceed like this with people she was still unsure about, because in all cases they colored their words with enough hints and darts that it became obvious who they were. What sort of person she was dealing with. All without any overt prodding or straightforward questioning on her part.

Many people had privately wondered how it was that Kiriko knew so much about everyone around her. Part of it was her elaborate intelligence ring, spurred on by purposeful drops here and there to feed a healthy rumor mill in Seireitei itself. Another reason was her own innate talent at reading body language, a skill honed to a razor edge after all of the close calls she had been in. But really, it had to do with this. Kiriko's ability to dampen her own input in a meeting, to whitewash herself until the only source of feeling and emotion for a conversation was the other person. It was in situations like those that people ended up talking, babbling, gesticulating. When there was nothing there opposite you, human nature called for the creation of something. Kiriko didn't want to know what her subordinates did when they were around their highest superior, what she needed to understand was what they were like normally. At all other times. And that was the kind of behavior she had learned to suss out, with her disconcerting method of silence.

So she let Fujikagi speak. She let him place his documents atop her desk. And she listened, really listened, to not just his words but his intonation. The inflection of his speech, the smallest movements of his hands and facial muscles. When he was done, Kiriko maintained that silence just a bit longer, stretching it out like taffy careful not to break the delicate strand. Right when tension was mounting highest, she nodded curtly, a casual and almost dismissive gesture. Leaning forward, Kiriko flicked the folder open, sliding one calloused finger down the column of information that was laid out before her. She scanned it, absorbing the pertinent details with the ease of someone who spent most of their time speed reading. It wasn't an awful lot, and more then half was just conjecture, but it was in line with what Fujikagi had said. Sakamoto's betrayal was no whim – there was deep seated planning and orchestration inherent in every carefully cleaned room and cliché books left behind. On some emotional level that stung, that Sakamoto had had all this time to dwell and bide and yet Kiriko hadn't noticed a single thing in all that time. She hadn't even considered that Sakamoto would be having trouble with her Inner Hollow, or that her friend would need more careful watching.

It hadn't seemed necessary. And why would it? When Sakamoto was so powerful, so stubborn, so strong? Kiriko had thought the mattered finished and over, once Sakamoto had defeated that horrible creature inside her head. It was only now, with her own new occupant, that Kiriko could see how simplistically she had been thinking back then. How egregious her mistakes were, in letting Sakamoto stew alone with the worst parts of her soul. The fact that she was responsible in part for her friend's actions didn't lessen Sakamoto's blame, though Kiriko wished that it could have. Instead it kindled an ugly fire in her chest, a boiling pot of self-loathing and despair. She knew what she had to do, to make up for her failures. She knew – and yet it would be horrible indeed.

None of that was important right now though. So Kiriko carefully finished skimming the document and folded the cover back over. Straightening out the corner of the folder so it was perpendicular to the second, she lifted her eyes to stare again at her subordinate. “I see, thank you for your report Fujikagi-san. I will take this information and disseminate it to the other divisions,” the unspoken agreement there being that what the Second found out wasn't necessarily the same as what was told to other Captains. Kiriko gave what she believed was needed, but many times another division would only be hindered by the fullest picture. To that end, her full report would be provided only to the First. Everyone else would receive carefully calculated missives, in keeping with her strategy for optimizing the teamwork and efficiency of the other divisions.

Kiriko placed the back of her knuckles against the second folder, tapping it gently as she went on, “And this? What is the second issue you have brought before me today, Fujikagi-san?” Naturally recalcitrant, Kiriko had never quite gotten over her desire to shorten her sentences to the fullest amount. Nonetheless she found herself intrigued. In the cogs and wheels of the Nibantai ingenuity and self-driven ambition were somewhat lacking. What could have pushed him to go about a subject that was not assigned to him as a mission? 

WC: 856 | GP: 17 | Total GP:  39

Well, he was still being asked to speak and he hadn’t been cut off yet.  That was probably as good a sign as he was going to get that he had her approval to continue in the manner with which he had begun and more importantly, it meant she was receptive what he had to say.

Motioning with his right hand towards the folder that Kiriko had now shifted her attention to, he began his explanation as to this unexpected stack of paperwork.  “After the events at Karakura Town, a concerning thought crossed my mind.  What about the Humans that survived being bathed in all that glorious and terrifying power?  What about the survivors?”

He paused for but a moment, moving his right hand up to his mouth, covered it, and cleared his throat with a subdued cough.  Dropping his hand back down to his side he continued.  “I worked with the Fourth Division to flag whomever we could find.  We canvassed refugee camps, supply depots, relief tents, other temporary tenements and housing projects in other suburbs...whatever was being deployed.  And we began recording and tracking the reishi signatures of anyone we could.”

He lifted his eyes up from folder and met them with Kiriko’s.  She was studying him with laser like focus but he at least had the spine and strength of conviction to meet her gaze with his own, a far cry from the timid and inexperienced man that came to her only a few months before.  “The concern here being sudden, inexplicable, unpredictable growths in power.  Mutations, if you prefer to think of them as such.  This folder contains a list and basic demographic information of everyone we are tracking, but special cases get their own page.”

He took a short step closer to the desk and motioned to the folder again, directly referring to the information contained within.  “There are Humans among that list which were already known to be spiritually sensitive and some had exhibited...adverse effects.  A couple I have had to deal with personally although the results have, so far, been resoundingly successful.  It’s at this point I would advise that the program is ready to be handed off to someone of a more specialized talent.  Perhaps someone with a better expertise in managing a spy network.”

Sighing softly as he began his next sentence, “Especially as mutations continue to occur, it is simply impertinent to leave the monitoring on one person’s shoulders.  And I don’t trust the monitoring the Fourth can do for us beyond whatever their ‘readings’ tell them from deep in their lab bunkers.”

Walking away from the table for a moment he turned towards the window facing the inner courtyard, with his hands folded behind his back.  Lowering his head, he reflected momentarily on what he was about to say.  The images were still just as sharp and cut just as deeply as they had on that day.  Sakamoto Miki.  He had filed a report only a moment ago but it was a topic that would never fully be closed.  It never could.  Kiriko was the only person in the Soul Society who could have understood better than he what it was to work with her.  He didn’t know much of anything about their relationship, only rumors and off-handed comments about their chemistry as co-workers.  But in a society and a division that was born of similar material?  That was good enough for him.  Besides, there really wasn’t anyone left alive for him to expect to know the former Captain better.

Breathing in deeply and closing his eyes, willing away the momentary spike of pain as he recalled the feeling of Miki’s blade cleaving across the bridge of his nose, he posed his question.

“Speaking of the Fourth...I know I just filed a report with you about the Former Captain, Sakamoto Miki, but I can’t help but express to you that I do not accept that this report is closed.  Perhaps it’s merely survivors guilt, but I part of me believes that her atrocity committed on the Kido Corps was the last steps in her attempt to cover up whatever it is she was doing.  There has to be more there.”

He raised his head and turned around to face his Captain again.

“I’m asking for some latitude, Captain.”

A loaded statement, cushioned by a fat silence that followed it.

Tokiyo could imagine his Captain was equal parts confused and hesitant but he knew what he wanted to express.  Now he just had to do it.

“That day, in the halls of the Kido Corps, the Former Captain...I’m sorry, can I just refer to her as Miki please?  Right, Miki used a technique that...I had thought myself the only practitioner.  One day, many years ago, an academy instructor handed me a series of notebooks belonging to a former Captain.  Within the pages, I read a story that ultimately led me down a road to reverse engineer the thoughts of that Captain and find a way to wrap myself in a dense Kido and create an aura that lends...unfathomable destructive powers to even my most basic strikes.”

HIs head pivoted around and locked onto Kiriko’s eyes once again, this time with an impassioned gaze of conviction.  He was no longer merely delivering a report, he was speaking from the heart.

“Captain, I can’t be sure but I know what I felt.  She was wreathed in an unmistakably similar aura.  I felt it.  I know it.  Those books that I read?  Those were hand-written originals that I saw, not printed copies.  The sort of thing that comes from a secret stash or a personal library.  The sort of thing that isn’t...common knowledge.  She was into something to have come across similar writing.  She had to have access to...less obvious sources of information and I want your blessing to take some leeway and find out what they were.  I can’t let it go.  I can’t shake the feeling that there is an enormous unknown here that she intended to leave exactly as we have found it.  And now that I’ve sufficiently beared my soul, I think I’ll get down from my pulpit and absorb whatever it is you might have to say on the subject.  I’m sorry if I came across as a bit...zealous, Captain.  If it would make you more comfortable, I could petition to take someone from the Sixth along with me.  Perhaps Lieutenant Kohara.”

He bowed his head and folded his hands in front of him as he approached the Captain’s desk again.  He’d laid a lot out and maybe it was too much for their relationship at this point in time, but he had to try.  He had to know.  Sitting on this for a decade would leave too much at risk for anyone to sleep comfortably in the mean time.

“It’s up to you now, Captain”

Word count // 1158 = 23 || 51GP

((Sorry for killing you with dialogue))

Kiriko sat in silence, her eyes never wavering even as she inwardly felt wave after wave of different emotions. Shock. Approval. Pleasure. In the wake of the Karakura Invasion, or whatever people were calling it now, there had been so much to do that many a task had been waylaid. She herself had wondered what would happen to all of those human souls exposed to such horrid reiatsu, but there was no time to ponder. Not when figuring out the Sakamoto problem was at the forefront of everyone's minds. Not when some human deviation twenty years from now was the likely result, something they could all put off studying for at least a little while.

Her first impression was studious. How was it that these humans could develop at such a rapid rate? Mutations? Anything like this in the past had only occurred in enhanced spirituality in the humans exposed to it, something that arose when they hit puberty or went through a mid-life crisis. To imagine that hundreds of humans would live through the Invasion only to wake up the next day with these kinds of abilities... It was honestly terrifying. Shinigami had never given much stock to the spiritual humans, there were so few and so spread out that most Shinigami never even met one aside from the standard text book in the Academy. Could Tova's reiatsu really be so far off the scale of measurable output that it could have this effect? That alone was disturbing, but as she flicked open the folder and started skimming names and summarized powers or sensory levels she found herself further inthralled.

It was no use now to try and ignore this phenomenon. But what could enhanced numbers of super powered humans mean to Shinigami? Could they use this in the battle against Tova and the maintenance of balance? The names were almost all Japanese, but a few foreign writing systems stood out. Kiriko had never heard of any of these people, even those Fujikagi had marked as having previously been spiritually aware. She had only a few moments to digest such a remarkable reality though before Fujikagi started to pace and turned back to face her, his expression tight and almost tense.

What he divulged then was shocking, in that it hit a bit more close to home then some far away human issues. Fujikagi had developed Shunko? That had to be what he was talking about. It only made sense. Even worse, Sakamoto had used her Shunko to sow her reign of terror over the Fourth? It was there in the reports, a rumored green aura of power, but Kiriko had hoped it was just falsified terror. Now there was no going back. What had happened to her secret?

Damn.

She had to stem this as best she could, and besides, Kiriko had always known Shunko wouldn't remain hidden forever. She had almost decided to take steps to reveal it, but now she knew it was paramount to do so. To keep it from being tainted by Sakamoto's betrayal. If Shunko became known as the tool a traitor used to kill her own comrades, it would forever be relegated to the corners of dusty tomes instead of heralded as the weapon it was.

Steepling her fingers, she pressed backward, her spine aligning with the chair at her back. “You put me in a precarious situation Fujikagi-san... Let us talk about this human issue in a few minutes, first I will address the other concern of yours. Sakamoto Miki did not unearth some old diary or memoir. She certainly did not come across the same books as you when she developed that technique you mention,” Kiriko held up one hand, forestalling any interruption. Eyes glittering, she leaned forward aggressively, “You want to ask how I know that, right? How could I? Well, it's very simple Fujikagi-san. I invented Shunko, the aura you are talking about. Sakamoto-san and I delved into research and came up with theory on the subject, nothing more. With her expertise in Kido I created the technique that she has been seen using, and yes, she learned it from me. Although in reality it was more her innate ability to reproduce a Kido that she had seen someone else use and less anything to do with a teaching moment...” Kiriko wavered for just a second, her eyes darting to the left as if recalling some brushed away memory. Whatever else would come from that day, she was not going to shirk responsibility over this matter.

“So in some ways, you are right. Shunko allowed Sakamoto-san to rise to such power, but it was not her only tool. She is a formidable opponent with or without Shunko. You were asking something else though, a more targeted question. Where did she get that information? I do not believe Sakamoto-san was hiding anything more then her own spiraling disillusionment with Seireitei, but if you need to continue this search for your own satisfaction there is one place she had access to that no one else but Aizawa-taichou does. The Kido Corps Forbidden Library. That is where we found mention of the few lines of theory that allowed me to create Shunko. That is where she might have found something else that would have led her to betraying Soul Society.”

Kiriko's stare turned into a glare, sharp and piercing and destructive. “Fujikagi-san, I would not tell just anyone these things, and I would appreciate it if you did not disclose this information to anyone else. Shunko... Shunko is something terrible... and wonderful. In due time I will disclose its teachings to Seireitei, but for now it is a secret. Just as Sakamoto-san's use of it is a secret. If I find that tomorrow there are whispers of such knowledge, I will know who to blame. And I would find out, no matter who you told. But I believe you understand me anyway, I need not threaten you, right Fujikagi-san?” Kiriko's smile was macabre, shadowed and fleeting, more pointed then any words could ever be.

“The Kido Corps Forbidden Library is well guarded. I could not get back in, and you would not be successful either on your own. You will need to speak to Aizawa-taichou about gaining access.” She changed the subject just as swiftly, clearing the air in a manner that only someone so inherently used to intimidation could manage without even the blink of an eye. Kiriko didn't really threaten people. That was uncouth. It was more... she made them aware of the dangers of double crossing her. Shinigami were good soldiers, but they were too closely-knit as a collective. They would speak to a friend in a bar about even the most perilous of information if she let them run around all willy-nilly. That was the nature of camaraderie. You always felt safe. She had never had to follow up on such words, mainly because her men were trained well enough that they didn't make such idiotic slips. But this was a more sensitive subject then ever before and the information could not be spilled before the proper time. Or else, Shunko as she knew it might disappear forever instead of helping the Shinigami rise to power.

WC: 1214 | GP: 24 | Total GP: 63

OOC - I didn't spell check or anything, sorry.

A careful choice approached him.  Tokiyo felt his mouth go dry and tense, creeping, scratchy feeling grow in the back of his throat as his Captain elucidated her policy on loose sharing of information.  Why?  He had nothing to be afraid of.  Her reiatsu was reasonably steady and he certainly wasn’t lying about anything he had told her.

He shifted his weight a bit, perhaps trying to dispel his internal comfort over the imagery of disappointing Kiriko’s expectations about how he should handle this information.

He didn’t feel accused, she was too clever and too intelligent for that.  Perhaps she was just covering her bases...erasing the question before it might come up.  He could respect that.  He did respect that.  They weren’t friends, but she at least knew enough about him to understand that they were certainly not enemies.

The worry faded as she moved on but the questions about the specific subject matter lingered.  Kiriko had invented Shunko?  That explained so much about the ‘legend’ he knew of her.  To be in the presence of the mind that pioneered the practical application of the technique was a wonderful feeling.  How long had he quietly (well, as quietly as possible) practiced the technique, alone in the woods, learning harsh lessons via trial and error?  And how he couldn’t even be sure that he was *doing* it right.  The book he had used to reverse engineer the technique could not have been penned by her, it was far older than her post as Captain, or even Lieutenant.  Possibly older than her.

He hadn’t taught anyone.  He hadn’t even really talked about it.  Others had seen it in action, but, none had asked any questions nor made any remarks other than to assume that it might have been his power.  A reasonable guess.  But it seemed as if the idle musings of the finer theories of Shunko would have to be savored another day.  Other business brought them together today, and it would remain their foreground.

“I will not disappoint your expectation for this privileged information, Captain”,  He stated simply and with a quiet deference.  There was no questioning in his voice.  “And I will approach Captain Aizawa as soon as would be prudent.  I appreciate your latitude in this matter, Captain.  Truly.”  He straightened the front his shihakusho with a curt, subtle motion.  

“Now then, my urge to beg your critique on this technique aside, were you wanting to further discuss this ‘Human issue’?”

For the moment, Tokiyo could feel well enough in assuming that their unspoken conversation had met its natural conclusion.  At very least, concluded enough to gloss over how he came across into the knowledge he had about Shunko.  That was a conversation for another day.

Word count // 463 = 9 || 60 GP

And that was why she was contemplating his promotion to Lieutenant. Fujikagi Tokiyo has a few obvious flaws, the least of which was his bearing. Not quite jovial, but not really serious either, he was too straightforward in all of the wrong ways. She couldn't put her finger on what it was about his attitude that felt dismissive, but something was there, clinging to his cultured voice. Things like that were the first to stick out, ever since his first interview as a recruit, but over time Kiriko had come to expect something entirely different from her initial expectations. Fujikagi was good at what he did, not just that, but he was clean about it. He didn't sit there and absorb orders like she had, but he pushed in all the right places. Looking to the future she could see how he would enhance her own leadership. It would be a relationship built mostly on business, that was something she was unwilling to overstep after the wounds left in her soul when Tsukimiya-taichou disappeared so roughly. But perhaps that was good enough.

“I have never heard of Aizawa-taichou giving anyone permission to enter the Kido Corps Forbidden Library, but I imagine you can be quite persuasive. I do believe that Lady Aizawa was injured by Sakamoto-san, the thought of Sakamoto-san finding something hidden in the library and Aizawa-taichou's own convalescence might work in your favor. I would press the issue of Aizawa-taichou having not noticed anything about her former subordinate and all the damage Sakamoto-san wreaked because of that lack of perception, that should be a suitably emotional enough button that you might get further in your attempt with her,” Kiriko imparted her advice with ease, drumming up just a few strands of her pre-made plan for interaction with Aizawa-taichou. The woman had been her first choice for Captain Commander when the only other option was Ine-taichou, but that didn't mean Kiriko hadn't considered all of the weaknesses that the noble carried around with her. They were quite obvious unfortunately, but perhaps that was required for a good bedside manner. Kiriko had never spent enough time in a hospital to know for sure.

Twisting her hands inward across the table she silently exhaled. That Fujikagi had managed to manifest any sort of Shunko aura on his own was remarkable. She really did want to ask him about that, to probe to see just how far he had come. But as he brought up himself, now was not the right time for that. Maybe she would include him in her lessons with Ametsuchi... The two had probably never crossed paths before, and it would be important for Fujikagi to know his counterpart in the Maggot's Nest – even if he didn't know about that place. Ametsuchi was a solid Shinigami, his dour attitude might dampen some of the things she felt were wrong with Fujikagi. Filing that idea away for later, Kiriko flipped open the folder again that detailed all of the humans that had been sensed.

“Is this an on-going investigation? What I mean by that is... Who else is working on this, and are they currently monitoring and locating humans?” Kiriko reread the names and power outputs. There were a handful of pages here, but most of the people listed had developed at best a sensitivity to the spiritual and nothing more. Maybe a hundred were doing better then that, and those who were previously marked seemed to have too large of a fluctuating scale to tell this quickly. Would this cause an explosion of spiritually aware, those who not only could see ghosts and Shinigami but also had powers of their own? What might the world look like if that happened? For the first time Kiriko wondered how the normal human world was explaining away the devastation of the Invasion. It wasn't the Second that dealt with repairing and hiding Hollow-breed attacks, but she knew even so that the job had been botched long enough that human governments had to be involved at this point. This was getting more and more curious.

“Are you the only Nibantai who was asked to step in? I agree with your analysis, this has grown bigger then simple reports, the Captains need to get involved. As you know the most right now, what would you advise if you were to be making the decision?” She deadpanned, careful not to invoke any sort of emotion in her words. Clean and precise. Fujikagi was too keen for his own good, if he read some inflection or tone he would tailor his response to what he thought she wanted. And that was exactly what she didn't want. Kiriko needed to see how he thought, and how he embraced leadership. Besides all of that, she truly was interested in what his insight might produce. She had her own theories as to what should be done, but it would be nice to ruminate before bringing this to Ine-taichou. Kiriko still didn't trust him, she would only approach the Captain Commander with the fullest sense of confidence in order to not be tripped up in a report.  

WC: 858 | GP: 17 | Total GP: 80

“Be sure to file that away for good ol’ Captain Junko.”, spoken as a note more than a suggestion.

“Of course, I’d be a fool to turn down her experience with that clique.  I don’t know the slightest thing about her besides what the file says and what I was able to read from...three minutes in the same room with her before having my eyes slashed to bits.”

The Captain’s inquiry was not unexpected about the reach of the investigation and he had to admit he was in, potentially, a precarious position.  Things had been hectic, sure, but there’s only so much tolerance for unchecked ambition in a military organization.  The Soul Society rewarded initiative only so long as it served the interests of whomever you reported to, as well as yourself.  Captain Chinda Kiriko could only bless his efforts if it were clear to her he was serving the Nibantai’s goals.  His own were secondary.  And certainly for now, that was alright.

But more than just what interests he was serving, Tokiyo couldn’t help but be at least a little bit nervous about the scope in which he was operating.  No one appointed him as a special agent and certainly no one gave him broad authority after the events at Karakura Town to explore the matter and devise a solution.  How could they?  He was in a Hospital Bed for almost two weeks.

When someone gets punched in the face they usually recoil and think several times before coming back again.  Tova’s walking tour of the Seireitei had done just that to the Soul Society ; punched them in the mouth and now they were shy.  Not looking for a fight.  As much as people talked about wanting revenge and ramping up to ‘take it to the enemy’, they all still remembered that punch to the mouth.  Whether they admitted it or not.

He stepped up to the Captain’s question.  Honesty was certainly the best approach but frank honesty was more precisely his internal recommendation.  Kiriko might be the sort to assume a great deal about whatever he chose to leave out, considering her assumptions were likely usually right, so...mine as well not leave out the truth, right?

“I’ve taken some liberty to ask folks who are stationed near monitored subjects to check in on them from time to time, but I don’t particularly have the authority to organize or dispatch dedicated monitoring details.  Any time the Fourth’s monitoring has picked up something we should care about from one of these Humans, we’ve been organizing small teams to assess the situation.”  

He cleared his throat slightly before continuing.  “I’ve checked in on ones who have gone from ‘zero to hero’, so to speak, personally.  Unfortunately in, uh, I believe three specific cases, they have had to be put down due to the destructive risk they posed or the inhumane nature of their metamorphosis.”

With a casual motion of the finger, he indicated something near the back side of the folder was relating to the topic.  “You’ll find an After-Action Report for each of those instances although you might want to view the third one on an empty stomach.”

Using what could best be described as a respectful deference, he returned to the matter at hand that she had asked him about.  “I apologize for how this must come off, but I was not asked to step in.  I was gravely concerned with the lack of initiative by the Fourth to organize and monitor a response to this threat and so I took the reigns from them and organized it like a special operation rather than a ‘pet project’, as they may have preferred to keep it.  The Acting Captain of the Fourth has told me nothing to contrary, so, it continues on.”

“As far as what I would do?  My suggestion would be a small task force  who is dedicated to this roll.  As the files and those numbers suggest, this is a precarious circumstance and ‘checking when we can’ is simply too passive for the risk suggested.  I believe this situation needs agents trained in active reconnaissance who can be granted broad access to the Senkaimon, who are efficient and observant enough to cover this much ground and cover it well, and whose interests are security minded rather than based in scientific curiosity.”

He pursed his lips slightly as he finished, almost as if he were chewing on the thought.  Had he thought about the question?  Plenty.  But he hadn’t rehearsed having to actually answer it in front of his Captain.  His reply felt dry in his mouth, like it needed to be washed down with a swig of wine or something else of a more elegant nature but then again...wasn’t the point to be starkly honest?

Word count // 801 = 16 || 76

He took her advice on Aizawa-taichou without blinking. That was a good sign. She had been worried slightly about Fujikagi's age when he had entered their ranks. Young Shinigami were always out there to prove themselves, and because of that they were uniquely equipped to mold their minds into any range of shapes necessary to fit into their new division. Few people had major issues with the cold-blooded nature of the Nibantai at that age range because she filtered out the prospective problem children before accepted anyone into her ranks, and the whole collective worked hard to ease unseated officers into the dark world they lurked in. That was not always the case with older recruits, those who transferred in after an illustrious career elsewhere or those who simply passed the Academy at a later age. She had sensed a sort of idealism from Fujikagi, not that rash bright-eyed nature of youth but more of a naivety towards the military's darkness. He might be older then herself, but he had been completely new to the underbelly of Seireitei when applying. It was good to see that the system she had created had not failed him completely, in that in whatever ways necessary Fujikagi had learned to cope with what it was that they did under official pardon of the First. And the no-holds barred method in which they went about achieving their objectives.

That was what he would need to get information out of Aizawa-taichou. A ruthless pushing drive that settled for nothing less then victory. She didn't imagine Aizawa would put up a huge fight once he threw the first verbal punch, but the woman didn't get to be that age and rule over a noble family for so long without some sort of backbone. Pompousness could be used as a shield just as well as capability. Nobles were good at that, as far as Kiriko considered.

The man straightened, pointing towards a particular page laid out on her desk, as he filled her in on the details of his job. A report provided a lot of information, but it generally was too formal to include things such as the writer's opinions or methods of information gathering. She was pleased to note that he had taken charge when there was a void in the system, less pleased to hear that the Fourth was still dysfunctional when they should have been able to staunch the bleeding of Sakamoto's betrayal and put up some new Captain by now. Or at least an Acting Captain. The Fourth was full of dreamers, but their dreams were important to the rest of Soul Society. The technology they maintained and created were vital aspects of the war against Hollow-breeds and the fight to keep the balance of souls. They could not let that division sink into the depths of oblivion.

Fujikagi was picking his words carefully, mincing around a particular subject with all the dainty footwork of a professional dancer. Did he think she would reprimand him for doing something above his pay grade? Or was it that he did all this without telling her first, or asking for permission? Kiriko didn't like autonomy, not in the Nibantai at least, but nonetheless she could not be irked with Fujikagi. Perhaps a bit wary of his ability to look ahead and feel completely alright in acting on his own, but not irked. The fatal flaw of her adaptation of the Second Division was that by throwing away your independence in order to work as an immaculate machine there was something lost in a soldier. She tried to balance that dualism, to encourage all members to focus on the group and the objective at all times but also to give them enough room to breath and remember why it was they were doing this. The end result was imperative, but if she rusted the cogs of the machine out by getting there it wasn't a sustainable concept.

Sliding a top paper to the right, Kiriko read the first few lines of one of the three documents he had indicated to her. Indeed, it was a stark story to tell, the concise nature of reporting making it even more macabre. The fact that some of these “spiritualized” humans were falling to ill made her even more worried. This might just be the next battlefield, but only if they let it. Could they prevent and control this outcropping of human spiritualists? Could the Shinigami use this for their own benefit? It wasn't an idea most Shinigami liked to ponder, the old rhetorics could still be heard screaming in her skull from her days reading dry law tomes. This was something to bring up to Ine, which unfortunately meant she needed to meet with him...

“You did well Fujikagi-san. I appreciate your timeliness in bringing this issue to light. I will take care of alerting the appropriate authorities, however for now I will authorize and command you to take charge of this topic. You are free to select members from the Nibantai and any other division that you get permission from and feel would be helpful here to both monitor and contain the burgeoning humans. As there is no protocol as of yet on our stance about human spiritualists occurring like this I would prefer you to stay as hands off as possible. If there is no danger to human life we should allow things to develop naturally until the Captain Commander tells us otherwise. You will be required to send me weekly reports on the issue, especially cataloging new humans and their power levels. I want to know everything there is to know about these people, this is no longer a “pet project” but a full time assignment. Understood?” Kiriko gave out her directives with ease, her mind already rattling on ahead in the attempt to formulate a proposal for how to handle these human spiritualists that could be adopted and ratified as quickly as possible. Right now they were working in the dark, and Kiriko hated that feeling of impotence.

She pushed up from her chair, snapping the folder shut before placing her hands atop the desk as she leaned forward intently. “You should place a permanent station in Karakura town to observe at all times. The human world is clearly no longer off limits to this little back and forth battle of ours with Tova, we need to be prepared for anything. Including a threat from humanity, or the potential of an alliance. I will want to see this station myself and inspect a few of the names on this list, expect my presence a week from now,” perhaps that was a push too far, but time was of the essence. If Fujikagi couldn't handle creating this task force in such a short period of time then he wasn't ready yet for the work she wanted him for. Kiriko knew better then that though. She was certain now of the man before her. Certain enough to move forward without any remaining hassles. “As of today you are officially my Lieutenant. You have an office and a room in the Command Annex. I expect you to live up to my standards Fujikagi-san. Don't disappoint me.”

WC: 1202 | GP: 24 | Total GP: 104

“I…”

“Now don’t fuck this up by blabbing back too much.  No need to go back to that blathering idiot in the interview room the first time you met.  She’s on the verge of *actually* respecting you, so I’d be certain you don’t give her a reason not to.”

While definitely not wrong, he couldn’t help but feel that Karaudo was being rash.  Surely his Captain would take something more substantial than a rash, fluttered splash of words after a reasonably unexpected promotion to rattle or even lightly disturb the foundations of the trust that lead her to this decision.  “Yes Captain.  You’ll understand if I don’t move in right away, but there is much to do.  I will carry out this directive immediately in a manner befitting its gravity.”

The words hung, just slightly, in his throat.  He was afraid of acknowledging it, like looking at it for too long might break this illusion that Captain Chinda Kiriko had actually just promoted him to Lieutenant of the Second Division.  But he couldn’t dismiss it either ; he wasn’t expecting this honor and the last thing he wanted to do was come off like he knew it was going to happen, or that he didn’t care.  He wanted to care, just...not too much.  After all, what is a career soldier without a career?

“And thank you, Captain.  I-...It’s an honor and a duty I do not take lightly.”, he spoke evenly, standing up as straight as he had since coming in the door.

He could feel Karaudo as if she were in the room there with him.  Certainly she was, but rather physically.  Like her could feel her eyes on him, biting her lip then smiling as he flirted with killing the moment by talking too much then held back rather gracefully to say only what was needed.  She could be reasonably proud, and he was certainly feeling the same.

Tokiyo had never considered himself overly ambitious, but centuries of habit in the outer Rukongai had molded a certain instinct in him that was buried well below conscious examination.  He could do nothing to help how he viewed the world ; as an opportunity to secure control over the situations around him.  Something that came out in ambitious ways, sometimes that came out in selfless ways.  But sometimes, that manifested in particularly useful ways for the people who kept him happy, healthy and safe.

“Of course I am at your call for any more questions or tasks about the matters we have discussed here tonight, but if there is nothing else I’d like to start getting things in motion for this latest assignment as soon as I can.”

He folded lowered his hands and tucked them neatly to his sides, waiting for the sign from Kiriko that he might take his leave, so he could bow respectfully and be on his way.  Maybe he could finally buy halfway decent sheets for his new quarters?  Military grade, wool blankets weren’t exactly luxurious.

Word count // 505 = 10 || 86 GP

[Potential thread exit]