Southeast Seireitei
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It is another nice day in Soul Society, while the Seireitei is still recovering from the events from ten months ago things are rather peaceful. Routines have, for the most part, returned to some state of normalcy. Shinigami on patrol, delivering messages, on break grabbing a bite to eat or just out for a leisurely stroll. Some are even out for a visit at the Shino Academy, visiting old teachers before continuing their own duties.
Enter Kuwashii Hakunetsu
Walking with a casual stride, a manila envelope in one hand and a strange candy that is obviously from the World of the Living in the other hand is a young Shinigami who is only in the Seireitei to deliver a report, contained in said envelope. She walks with a bit more swagger and attitude than other Shinigami around her, an obvious effect of spending an extended amount of time around humans who aren’t barred down by thousands of years of tradition. The name of this girl is Kuwashii Hakunetsu or Kuwa for short. A former human who had died and was sent over to Soul Society she spent her time in the Rukongai, at first living alone before being adopted by a couple in the Rukongai. Problems with Nobles lead to the death of her adoptive parents, leaving her alone once again, defending their home from any who tried to take it from her. She was a little fireball back then, literally, she was able to utilize her Reiryoku as a weapon in the form of Reiatsu, burning anything in front of her or around her.
She had defended her home for so long, at so many different moments that her Reiatsu had scorched the land black and burnt the home multiple times but through some miracle it remained standing. It wasn’t long before a Shinigami caught word of this transpiring and went to investigate. After much trial and error to earn the girl's trust he was able to convince her to go with him to the Seireitei where she can learn to harness and control her power. Her only stipulation was to ensure no one touched her parents home and the Shinigami agreed to that stipulation sending word to Otokogi Aijō who was a Lieutenant at the time. To this Day Otokogi has honored his word and kept that place safe and untouched, the only thing he added was a shrine for her parents. Because of this she often stops by the academy to give thanks to her former teacher in the form of snacks she acquired from the World of the Living.
Since he became a Captain it had become increasingly more difficult to find him at the Academy and when she could he was in the middle of teaching. Given her duties as Guardian of Naruki City she couldn’t idle around until the class was over. This is why she is here today, among other reasons. Firstly, she is back to deliver a written report to Tenth Division on minor occurrences that transpired in Naruki City, things that don’t need a rush of communication. Secondly, as already addressed she wished to use this time to visit Otokogi who is completely absent from the Academy, apparently he is at Third Division training someone. Third Division is too much out of her way to drop by for a visit which brings up the third reason why she is in the Seireitei. Apparently there is something going to be organized soon that she will need to take part in and so her superiors in Tenth Division needed to communicate with her directly about it.
Whatever this task was they were going to assign her must have been important if they made her come all the way home for it outside of the typically scheduled visit.
”Hope this crap doesn’t take too long, I gotta get back before the shops close, have to stock up for school lunch.”
After spending so much time in the World of the Living, her mind is somewhat attuned to human issues and troubles, such as having food for lunch of all things. She hasn’t entirely lost sense or sight of who or what she is, she still enjoys the rush of battle and growing stronger.
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Vaspart
Guest
Captain of the 8th Division - Hiro Tanaka
Listen as you read.
It's been too long. A young, but weary voice emerged in a particular place in the Seireitei, and soon thereafter vanished. In that very same place, an inaudible melody had been playing, inaudible to all but seemingly one - the young man who stood in front of the great cherry tree crowning the local park.
His arms moved gracefully, conducting an unseen performance. His eyes were closed and a dreamy expression befell his face.
As his hands wove patterns, his feet shifted. The tension in the shoulders eased and a sense of tranquility overcame him.
As a deep breath leaves one's lungs, this peace too had left him for a long time, but it was time for it to come home.
As the fuel of life is shared between all things, with each breath this tranquility spread to all things around him. For just that small period of time, this was a place of much needed healing.
A glistening sheen overcame the captain's body, his gentle spiritual energy slowly rising to the surface. As the wind blew the last of the tree's autumn leaves away, they too basked in this healing light and for a few moments became like fireflies, burning with inner fire before being slowly carried away.
Much has happened in the past ten months. Not just in the Hiro's life, but rather in all of Soul Society. The coup left Seireitei bleeding, weakened. Many lives were lost and many bonds were severed so quickly.
The Court Squads were almost shattered by the Court Squads themselves.
A lot of guilt has weighed on Hiro's mind about his lack of presence in the Seiretei at the time. He was sent on a mission beyond even the Rukongai, accompanied by the now Captain of the Second Division, Kagi Senko. His rational mind admitted that his presence likely would not have affected things to a large degree, but he still wished he could have prevented the conflict from occurring in the first place.
As an agent of the Special Forces, this was even more so a point of shame. The Onmitsukido did nothing, and their two best agents were rather conveniently sent away during a critical time.
This web of lies had been a burden on his mind. At this point, it was difficult to know whom to trust. In a true Special Ops fashion, the answer would be to trust noone, but Hiro knew that such a structure does not thrive. They would have to pick up the pieces of what's left, in spite of any barriers that may have still existed between them.
As the months passed, the haori adoning Hiro's back seemingly grew heavier and heavier. Despite that, however, his personality seemed to have grown even more joyful and vibrant. He found comfort in carrying this burden and that was perhaps the most important thing he could have done.
Soon, this moment would pass, and life would return to its natural, chaotic state.
But for now, there was peace.
Having finished her candy she balled up the wrapper and stopped for a moment to look around for a trashcan. After looking around for a moment she had to remember where she was, the Seireitei would not have such things just lying around and she was not about to just litter. She lets out a frustrated sigh at the inconvenience of not having anywhere to throw her trash and so she tucks it away inside of her Shihakusho and continues onward to her destination. She begins mumbling something to herself that was rather repetitive in nature almost as if she was trying to memorize it. This continued on for some time until she began to pass by a park that held a rather large cherry tree as its central feature. She stood there, staring at it for a few moments watching the last of the leaves fall off of it before suddenly sensing Reiatsu coming from its direction.
“Hmph.” She begins to approach the tree wondering what someone could be doing releasing their Reiatsu next to it. The closer she got the better she could feel the Reiatsu, sensing that it was calm and gentle in nature, all while still mumbling to herself. Once she was close enough to see who it was she had stopped mumbling, she was reciting a lesson to herself that she had learned in the human world, school specifically. She found the lessons taught in Human schools to be rather simple, not as complex as those found here in Soul Society as she can recall them clearly in her mind. That aside the first thing she noticed about the person in front of her was the Haori, she stared at the Kanji on the back of it that represented Eighth Division. Her eyes moved up to notice the bucket hat that sat on the man’s head. She sat silently for a moment and wondered if she had slipped into an alternate reality for a moment since this person is now somehow a Captain.
”Uhh, Tanaka-san? That you?”
She calls out to the man almost in a confused tone of voice as if she was unsure about the person’s name. Hiro Tanaka was her senior by the time she had joined the Academy and he had graduated long before she was even close to obtaining her Asauchi. Despite this though she still knew who he was, everyone in the Academy at the time did as he was a rare genius. By the time she herself graduated there was another boy genius who graduated before her who was actually much younger than her as well. Sandwiched between two geniuses made her think she missed the time frame to be born into this world. Regardless of this she stood silently, waiting for a response from the Captain.
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Vaspart
Guest
Ah? Oh, are you Hakunetsu by any chance? It has been a while. He blurted out automatically, as if his mouth had found the answer before his brain did.
Ah, yes, now he remembered. The girl that stood before him was Kuwashii Hakunetsu, a talented girl he remembered hearing about from around the time of his graduation. Or at least that's who he hoped she was, having noticed that her appearance fit the description he heard back in the day. He found it interesting that he would get to meet her at such a seemingly random time, after centuries have already passed.
As you can see, I changed my wardrobe recently. With all the chaos going on, probably not everyone heard the news yet. He added soon thereafter, boasting somewhat. Hiro was not generally the type of arrogant fool bashing their supposed achievments into other people's faces, but this was a point of genuine pride for him. Not many get to wear that prestigious, white haori, after all. Not many could bear the weight that is now causing Hiro's shoulders to sag. It would have been apparent to everyone looking at Tanaka now, that he looked fatigued and in need of rest.
Life hadn't been easy on him recently and he was hard at work at rebuilding his divion's strength and gaining their trust. Getting his squad to trust him was probably Hiro's most vital goal and a very difficult one at that. Word of mouth spreads quickly and soon the entire division knew about the captain's Onmitsukido background. Despite his best efforts, most of his squad has so far proven slow to warm up to him.
They are obiedient, yes, but Hiro knew that he needed to establish trust and loyalty if he wanted to build a successful division.
Just as Hiro was about to open his mouth, his senses detected the enormous spiritual pressure rippling through Seireitei. He recognized it immediately as belonging to the Captain of the 3rd Division, but why would he release such power out in the open at this time? Judging by the intensity, it must be the product of a Bankai. Hiro didn't detect any signs of killing intent in the enormous reiatsu.
What in the hell is he doing? He thought to himself, briefly gazing in the direction the energy was coming from. Just a few moments later, another immense spiritual pressure flared in the distance. Though not as strong, that one was filled with rage.
That's not good.
Well, today sure seems like an eventful day, doesn't it? He said out loud, as a disappointed expression befell his face. Hiro didn't know what was going on, but the situation in the distance didn't seem like it was heading for a peaceful resolution. Then again, he did not particularly feel like finding out more. If there are more idiots that want to kill each other even after everything that's happened, then by all means, let them have at it. There will be less to worry about for the rest.
Feeling a bit awkward, Kuwashii's eyes darted from left to right to see if there was anyone else there he may have been speaking to. Being so heavily conditioned by Human culture his response seemed odd to her but she had to remember where she was and who she was talking to.
”Uhh, yeah that’s me…”
She returned to her awkward silence as he went on to state, in a roundabout way which seems to be his style of speaking, that he had become a Captain. Normally most Shinigami would bow and quickly switch to a more polite way of speaking, but not Kuwa. It didn’t matter if the Captain Commander was standing here with him, she would still be behaving in the same way, not bowing or using honorifics. A scolding would definitely come her way if this were the case but she would take it in stride and probably repeat the offense again later on. But to be fair she had not heard the news, during the entirety of the Civil War Kuwashii was in Naruki city doing her job, she only kept up with what was going on via her Denreishinki. Access to the Senkaimon at the time was cut off, possibly to prevent reinforcements for either side to arrive so she was essentially stranded in the Living World for a few weeks.
During those few weeks she was also bombarded with questions that seemed odd and heavily political. She was thrown off and confused by the questions which were all answered with selfish responses. These responses are what allowed her back into the Soul Society and more specifically back into the Seireitei.
”Yeah things have been hectic for me, I’ve had to double down on my patrols in Naruki, even had to pick up a few in Karakura because we’re so short handed. I’ve had to let my mod soul take my place at school to keep up appearances there.”
Not used to talking strictly business she scratches her cheek awkwardly because she didn’t know how to speak to a Captain otherwise, all business and no fun. Although she did catch Hiro basically dancing with the tree next to them so maybe he isn’t as business oriented as she assumes him to be. Though, before she could think up some small talk her Spiritual Senses pick up on two obvious signatures. One was Otokogi and the other was unknown to her. She couldn’t tell that Oto was using his Bankai as her sense of Reikaku was not that precise but she could tell this other violent surge of Reiatsu was headed his way. She furrows her brow wondering who would point such malicious intent towards the old man? She heard about his rise to Kenpachi but the chaotic nature of the other Reiatsu doesn’t exactly scream “Challenge” more like “Murder”.
”Y-yeah it does… Hey, I’d love to stay and chat a bit more, Tanaka-san, but I still have to drop off this report to my Division. Sorry!”
She turns on her heel and begins running off towards her Division. While in the minds of others they would rather avoid whatever ill fated confrontation is headed Otokogi’s way, Kuwashii hopes to drop off her report and move to assist him. She believes herself to be strong, strong enough to assist the old man and not get in his way. This is merely arrogance on her part, however, it is how she operates and it is why, to date, no Hollow has ever escaped from her in the World of the Living. Sadly, that Shiba is beyond any mere Hollow she has ever faced.
To Southwest Seireitei: 10th Division barracks
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Vaspart
Guest
10th Division, huh? Sometimes I wish I was there instead, just so I could go to the world of the living myself, every once in a while.
Indeed, reading books about the world of the living, or even from the world of the living, wasn't the same as actually being there. It had been at least a hundred years, if not more, since the last time Tanaka had the chance to visit any of the human cities. And even then, it was strictly on business.
Every once in a while a thought would pop into his head, to sneak away for just a little while. Maybe if Gotei hadn't gotten itself into this mess, it would be possible...
Then again, the Captain was not the only one inconvenienced by most of Seireitei's fighting force dying off in one way or another. Everyone felt the impact or was somehow affected, whether through injury, the loss of a friend or a loved one, or even something as simple (and yet brutal) as the workload multiplying, since there were no longer enough hands and feet to do the work that needed to be done.
Eh, no problem. Good luck with your work!
Hiro noticed the change in her behaviour as soon as the two spiritual pressures in the distance flared up. He wouldn't let it be known, but he was at that moment about to be overcome by anger boiling deep inside. It was not directed at Hakunetsu, or even the two whose power resonated throughout Seireitei. It was anger and sadness, that what had happened ten months prior was apparently not enough.
Not enough good women and men have died, not enough were left eternally scarred, whether emotionally or physically.
The hatred still burned in people's hearts, ready to take more.
As Hakunetsu was leaving, Hiro took a deep breath and with a single use of Shunpo found himself overlooking the distant landscape from the roof of the tallest building in the vicinity.
It seems I care about it a bit more than I'd like to admit.
Surely, the massive spiritual pressures alerted many more than just himself and Hakunetsu. In fact, Tanaka expected that forces were already rallying to try and contain the situation. Despite that, Hiro felt that his presence could prove useful in avoiding casualties, if he could make it in time.
Let's hope I won't even be needed.
In truth, the reason behind this anger was his own feeling of guilt, of not being in the Seireitei at a time when his presence was needed. There was little point in dwelling on the past and feeling sorry for the dead, but at the very least he could try and ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated.
Or was this just wishful thinking?
A pathetic show of idealism from someone who should have known better?
The Captain sighed, his right hand pressing firmly on the top of his hat.
With yet another use of Shunpo , his figure vanished from the rooftop, now racing like a shadow through the streets of Seireitei.
Travel Destination: Northwest Seireitei