Izanami no Jidō: The Good Life

Preparations
"It seems that they managed to survive your best man's assault, as well as the plane crash." Brina spoke to the Prophet casually. "To be honest, I am quite amazed that the Captain and her husband managed to survive the attack." She closed her eyes and sighed, somewhat disheartened at the fact that the explosives did not work. "Conventional methods never seem to work anymore..."

She was standing with the Prophet in the time of the aftermath of the plane crash. After tapping into the security feed, she had seen everything that had happened. Because the inner of the plane could be seen by the cameras, she could not tell what had happened outside or where the trio had landed. It would make for a harder time finding them.

The Prophet had his hands behind his back as he normally did as he glanced down at the security feed within his tower's security room. "Fear not dear Brina. Kafiezial is simply acting as I had ordered him to. I expected them to survive the crash, only to find themselves closer to a more secluded area. A perfect target for you and your allies to assault them."

That brought the smile to Brina's face once more. "Of course, Mr. Prophet. My security feed did not tell me of where they had landed at. Would you happen to know exactly?"

The Prophet smiled as he directed her towards a larger monitor to their right. He himself walked over to it and pressed a couple of buttons on it's rather large keyboard. On the screen, satellite images of the United States appeared and it quickly zoomed into the northern Virginia area. Upon closer inspection, a large mountain could be seen with a castle shaped formation on it's top.

"This is where they crashed." he said, pointing to a large cliff like shape that was to the south of the mountain. "And this is where they are heading." he continued as he pointed to the mountaintop.

Brina peered at the screen for a few moments. "At this moment.... it would be unwise to strike." She said lightly. "Because of the earlier attack, they could be expecting us already. We must allow for a brief cool-down period before we can allow ourselves to get into position again." She directed her attention towards another part of the screen, particularly where it showed a village not too far away. "Maybe once they've allowed themselves to get acquainted with the locals...."

"I agree. It would be best to wait for them to lower their guard, then we may strike them. As for the village..." He began to look at it with a bit of curiosity, before resuming his talk. "...I doubt that they would go to the top of a mountain to a large castle only to go back down to a village for any reason. Of course, it is still possible and something that we should take into consideration."

As he finished, he felt the prescence of his assassin entering the room. He then turned to face him. "Ah Kafiezial. I assume that you weren't too badly scuffled in the fight?"

The Watcher walked up to the pair slowly. He held out his right hand, which held the detonator that he'd used earlier, and handed it to Brina.

As she shifted to face him, Brina allowed her eyes to fall on the detonator. Her eyes squinted, and her smile expressed moderate happiness. "I am glad that the equipment proved to be quite useful." She said, reaching out and taking the detonator from the man. "As our targets get acquainted, my colleagues will proceed to infiltrate and take up positions within the village to provide overwatch."

The Watcher simply nodded in response to her statement and Flash Stepped from view. The Prophet turned back to Brina. "It seems that he has already taken a liking to you." He then looked back at the monitor, taking her plans into consideration. "When do you think that you will be heading out?"

"Possibly a week." Brina estimated. "But that will be when I personally arrive on scene. My men will already be there, waiting for the moment to strike."

The Prophet's smile lowered as he read her face. "You're wanting to catch the Captain when she is alone, don't you?"

Brina closed her eyes and remained silent for a moment against the subtle accusation, the smile fading from her face. However, she kept that polite and light tone in her words when she spoke again. "If that is my reason for doing this, then I would've never placed the explosives on that plane, Mr. Prophet." She explained to him. "It is as if you believe I want my path of revenge to be an honorable one, that I believe purely that justice must be done."

Slowly, she opened her eyes to the screen again.

"I'm only human, after all."

The Prophet simply nodded in agreement and looked back up at the monitor before speaking again. "You know, I couldn't help but notice a familiar accent to your voice." He then turned his gaze back to her. "You wouldn't happen to be a McTavish would you?"

"I am." Brina said smoothly. "Why do you ask?" There was no point in denying it. The Prophet was more perceptive than he looked, so he or his bodyguard could probably tell if she was lying or not. Besides, it wasn't as if it mattered. She already showed that she was willing to commit atrocious actions against her own father just to gain her revenge. So what was there to fear?

The Prophet's friendly gaze briefly turned into a stern one before he resumed his previous expression. "It's nothing. I recognized your grandfather's accent within your voice and I thought I would inquire about it to see if I was right."

"I see...."

Remaining silent for a moment more, Brina presumed to turn on her heel and walk off. "If that is everything, I must be on my way again, Mr. Prophet, and Mr. Watcher." She said politely, turning around only to give a polite bow. "Do take care...."

As she left, the Watcher shut the door behind her before he crossed his arms and leaned up against the wall as his master continued to monitor the screen images. "She's obviously got something planned for us as well." he said with his empty voice. The Prophet did not move as he replied. "I know that. And what does it matter? Within a few days, her precious organization, as well as the rest of the world, will crumble before my feet..." he walked over to the window and stared out into the massive city. "...Once I wield the blade."

The Watcher simply kept his head down, slumped over as if though he was asleep. "Do you have any orders sir?"

The Prophet continued to stare at the window. "Continue to monitor her and her peers. Even if she doesn't have anything planned, I want to know what it is she's thinking."

The Watcher gave a respectful bow as he Flash Stepped from view.

Old Wounds
As it appears on the outside, Preacher's Virginia estate had a distinct classical feel on the inside, a welcome change to the various white and futuristic styles of living that the trio had seen earlier. It had been nearly two days since they had arrived at the highly elevated home, and it had already felt as if though all of the world's problems had disappeared. Of course, that would change very soon.

Akisame was laying on a large sofa inside of the main living room, looking out of the window to see the snow covered mountains that seemed to stretch off into and endless stream of ridges. His wife Soifon was sitting in a fur skin chair, fixing her up a new leather strap to put on her stealth uniform. She had become so used to having the weight on her shoulder, that taking it off would make her off balance while in a fight.

"Ah, the Onmitsukidō uniform...."

Haralson was sitting across from her, hands folded behind his head, and one leg shifted over the other. "Doesn't look like it's changed much from the old days." He commented in a statement of small chatter. "So I can probably assume the modern generation also hasn't changed much. How was it for you, serving in that particular position?"

Soifon looked back up at him. "Hard. Especially when you're surrounded by incompetants who don't know how to follow simple instructions." Just as she finished talking, she had successfully completed he new armor piece and began to stitch it to the leather pad. "Well, most of them weren't as bad, but there were a few..." she trailed off into thought, remembering how Omaeda was brutally killed by Ultharon.

"Heh...." Haralson had to chuckle a little at her words, considering how high he held the 2nd Division. "Idiots, huh? Did that count for those within the Onmitsukidō, as well?"

She smiled. "Not really. Out of the hundreds of members, I could count the idiotic ones out of them with my fingers. The difference between them and the 2nd Division, is that they were more trained. We were taught to be emotionless killers, completing assignments without remorse or pity, and complete them with the best precision available. That's how I was for a long time." She then turned her friendly gaze towards a now sleeping Akisame. "Until that big lump came along and crashed everything."

Haralson squinted his eyes in a slight upside-down U shape, smiling all the while. "A family life can do that to you, lassie...." He commented lightly.

She looked back at him with the same gentle expression. "I don't know how he did it. But there was something about him that just...I can't explain it."

She then set her armor piece down on the table in front of them before sitting up with her left leg crossed over her right. "So...how did your family end up getting together?" She wanted to avoid speaking about the issue with Brina.

Surprise came across Haralson's face. But it only existed for a brief moment before it went back into a thoughtful look. "Well..." He began, as if hesitant where to start. "I don't think there's really much to explain when it comes to that... me and my wife were young and romantically stupid at the time. We fell in love at first time, but.... it was pretty awkward the first few times we met. Both of us hardly knew what we were doing. But, as time passed, we began to grow more adapted to one another and things went pretty smoothly from there. We got married, had our two children, and whatnot."

Soifon continued to smile. "That sounds alot like me and Aki, minus the children of course." She looked over to see her now awakening husband.

"I'm going to go on the top porch for a bit. I'll be back in a few." she said as she left the room they were in.

Akisame got up and rubbed the back of his neck. "You two didn't do anything while I was out did you?" he joked with a tired voice.

Haralson closed his eyes, folding his hands within his lap. "Only shared a few words of small talk while you were knocked out." He said honestly. "And, besides...." He cocked a slight eyebrow and smirked. "When you're speaking in human aging, I'm 45, while she's probably in her early 30's. You know me better than that, Akisame."

Akisame simply chuckled as he sat himself upwards. "Well you can never be too sure."

He then lit a cigarette and sat back, relaxing his apparently tired muscles. He held out his pack of cigars, motioning Haralson if he wanted one.

Haralson wordlessly took one of them from the pack before leaning back into his chair, pulling out a lighter from his hankama pocket. Stuffing the butt in his mouth, he lit the other end quickly before extinguishing the flame for his lighter, keeping his cigarette between two fingers as he smoked it. "In case you didn't hear, the lass'll be back shortly." He reported.

Akisame puffed a blow of smoke away from him. "If it's about the smoking ordeal, she'll get over it. I do it back at home around her all the time." He put the cigar back into his mouth as he looked outside. "Have you ever seen gramps smoke?"

"Tch...." Haralson scoffed at the remark lightly. "I don't even think he heard of it before. Maybe he did it around you, but I was never around him enough to know."

Akisame smiled and held up one finger as he continued to look outside. "I've seen him do it once. It was when Sophie and I started dating. He was watching me smoke and he told me "Them bloody things will get you killed."" he said as he tried to imitate the old Soul Reaper's voice.

He chuckled somewhat. "Well, I tried to convince him otherwise but he wouldn't have it. And at one point in that day, I walked outside of the 2nd Division barracks and I saw him smoke the weirdest looking pipe. It was like a snake you know?" he puffed another cloud of smoke out before continuing. "He never knew I saw him, at least I think. He probably felt my presence and all."

"Dad was always quite the crafty bastard...." Haralson commented, half-lidding his eyes and leaning back in his chair to relax himself. "He could probably tell what people were thinking about him just by glancing in their general direction.... though, that could be just an over-exaggeration on my part."

"Yeah. He always did have that special touch." Akisame said, tossing his cigarette butt into the trash can next to him. "And you said that he and this...Prophet...were partners sometime ago?"

Haralson gave a silent nod, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and blowing out a cloud of smoke.

"Hm." he replied crossing his right leg over his left. "He always was a bit strange when it came to the Red Sun." He looked up at the ceiling fan, watching it spin and form a circle in his eyes. "It's like...when he turned on Sophie and I...we honestly thought he'd lost his mind. Saying that only the Red Sun could save us from Ultharon. I don't know why he felt he had to kill us to go through with it all. Maybe studying it for so long caused him to go mad." he finished as he put his hands around his neck and leaning back in the seat.

"Well, if he went mad because of that reason...." Haralson said logically. "Then how would he have maintained his sanity when he spoke to me within the vision that De Soto gave me? He seemed quite right in the head to me."

Akisame shrugged. "Maybe because that was the Charles that you knew, you know your perception of him."

"I would've believed that, too... but there was just one thing about it." Haralson, unsure of whether or not he had explained this before, took in a deep breath to explain presumably again. "At a certain point in time, he inserted a small part of his mind into De Soto's Zanpakutō for the small purpose of linking to me within the Arrancar's final moments. That was him, all right."

Akisame looked at him in a sort of dumbfounded look. "Huh. I guess he was in his right mind after all, not that that really helps." He leaned forward and rubbed his hands togather. "You know...I've never really believed in this Red Sun stuff. I've never really been the religious type you see. And he would always tell us that the Red Sun was the only hope for salvation or some stuff like that." He leaned back. "It sounded like rubbish to me, no offense."

"None taken...." Haralson dismissed it smoothly. "But I find it a bit funny. Despite the fact that the old man had spent more time with you than me, I honestly would've believed that you would believe in Red Sun."

Akisame's smile became somewhat lower as he looked down at the table between him and Haralson. "Well...he wasn't much of a father to me either. It was always either fighting him and growing stronger, or reading about some Red Sun history thing."

He looked up towards Haralson. "The thought of a paradise beyond Soul Society, a paradise for departed souls in itself, just sounded odd to me. I mean, what will happen to the worlds afterwords? How can people tell who will be there to inhabit it? And what happens if they die? Do they go off into another paradise and the process eventually repeats itself?"

He leaned back. "Religion has always been something to be cautious of, at least in my case. I know that may sound foolish and whatnot, but that's how I honestly felt." He looked back out the window. "Something the old man never could understand..."

For a moment, Haralson did not allow himself to speak, eyes peering at Akisame as he contemplated his words. But it wasn't long before he began again. "Of course you're cautious." He said calmly. "Religion can lead to extremist movements, immoral and unethical action. It's really no different from the concept of patriotism for government, or even love for your family. But the fact that what religion you believe in could be nothing more than a myth is what puts it above everything else."

Akisame looked back at him. "Did you ever run into that sort of problem before..."

He was cut off when his wife Flash Stepped next to him. "The wind feels good out there. You want to come out there with me?" She looked back at Haralson, realizing the rude motion she'd just made. "Oh, i'm sorry about that. I wasn't interrupting anything important was I?"