The War of Four: Courts and Circles

Previous Chapter

Developing situations, Buisness as usual...
It has been nearly a week since the battle with the 10th Division and its Captain after cornering the infamous mercenary organization known as V-14. However, intel was weak and wasn't properly sifted through at a high price. Nearly Two hundred men lost their lives, with only a few dozen injured and a handful among them able to regain full recovery. Due to an unexplained, classified development within the Noble Takuji Clan, Captain Takuji of the 10th Division withdrew from the conflict and failed to capture or terminate a single member of the criminal organization. Since then, the Soul Society began whispering of a imbalance of power within the Takuji Clan as well as potential political problems between the other Noble Houses, a situation currently being mediated by the Head Captain as well as the other Heads of the Noble Houses themselves.

The damage done to the southeastern section of the Rukonagi District had long since been repaired, as a special task force within the 12th Division immediately secured the area once it was confirmed no hostiles remained and the area was available to be monitored and collect any incriminating evidence. Their unnofficial role as the "repair-men" of the Gotei 13 has led them to be highly praised and often beloved by the citizens of the outlying Rukon Districts, as they often improved what was damaged to a higher state of living or even provided incentives for the battle that had berift some of the unfortunate citizens' demises or circumstances.

During all of this, it only occured to some to wonder about the whereabouts of the "MIA" Hayate Clan's prestigious Kukkyōna Hayate, Captain of the 6th Division, and the prodigious heir, Daisuke Hayate also Lieutenant of the 9th Division. After the leave time had been extended an additional few weeks for the restoration project in Yūrei Ōkuko, Captain Hayate announced their immediate return to the Seireitei to resume active duties once more.

Which brings us to the Barracks HQ of the 9th Division...

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!

"Captain! I have urgent news!" 3rd Seat of the 9th Division, Seiryō Soyosoyo excitedly rapt his left knuckle against his superior's office door. His well kempt cropped hair slightly aloft due to the exciting news he had to brign to his attention.

"Hm?"

On the inside, 9th Division Captain Hachiro Horikawa looked up from the paperwork he had just finished writing and putting his signature on when he heard the knock at his door. With one hand, he straightened the round-lens glasses on his face, while the other hand set the quill back in the ink container. He could practically sense the enthusiasm on the other side, and it couldn't help but make him quirk an eyebrow and grin a little. Such was natural for the 9th Division of the present...

Slowly, he allowed himself to arise from his chair and walk over to his door. He grasped the knob and pulled it open, stepping back to see the man's smaller form. He blinked in a gesture of curiosity and surprise. "Seiryō? What is it, sir?" He questioned, looking at his subordinate expectantly. It was a habit of him to refer to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Seats as "sir". The rest of them were always referred to on a first-name basis.

Gleaming brightly at hearing the honorary term, Seiryō stood a little taller as he emphasized with a wave of his hands, "I just got word from the Air Traffic Control Unit from the 12th Division! Lieutenant Hayate and Captain Hayate have returned from their shore leave assignment of Yūrei Ōkuko's restoration. They'll be arriving in the Seireitei by one of their air transports!"

This caused the surprise to override the curiosity... and then turn into an amused satisfaction.

The Captain allowed himself to laugh in a brief, yet hearty manner, the grin emphasizing his mirth. "Well, it's about time!" He said. "I was beginning to think that they would've allowed themselves to stay. Do you know of when they'll be here, exactly? If I get the time, I'll make sure they get welcomed by at least a few of the others."

The young 3rd Seat then chuckled sheepishly, as he rubbed the back of his head with his eyes squinting, "Well, actually that's the thing. The control unit I told you about earlier said they're actually stopping by here first. As in...the vehicle they're using is going to land on the courtyard proximate to our barracks..."

Bonk.

With a raise of his fist, Hachiro promptly tapped Seiryō's forehead once, in the manner of knocking on a door. "That's "where", you little git." He grunted, although not in the manner of annoyance. Them landing in 9th Division's courtyard didn't worry him any, and he could probably chalk it up to Daisuke's intervention. "I asked "when". Minutes? Hours? Seconds? Right now? Because if it's immediate, the rest of 'em will just have to deal with not being the first."

Seiryō winced, feeling the strong finger poke him back a few times, going as far as sending him back a couple of steps, "Oh...sorry Captain. Ummm...last time I checked they were going to be here any minute-"

FLAP-FLAP-WHOOSH!

A great wind propelled by the clear sounds of a winged creature landing over quite surprisingly stealthy up until this point, sent a gush of wind through the Captain's office and towards the two conversing men. Seiryō's once perfectly sheen kempt hair was now flustered to a wild look, his eyes drooped and his mouth twitched.

"Right now, Captain," he said with dismay as he looked up sullenly at what happened to his hair.

"Perfect!"

Not much could be said for Hachiro. Considering his hair had a bit of a rough-looking appearance already, all the wind really did was make his coat billow in the intense winds. With the pleasant smile on his face, he allowed himself to make his way out the door. When it shut behind him, he folded his gloved hands behind his back and began walking. "Come on, Seiryō. The lieutenant would be disappointed if we kept him waiting..."

"Yes, Captain," Seiryō said in a disappointed tone, as he reached into his kosode and attempted to comb his hair back to its perfect sheen he had moments ago, even as he exited the door and followed his Captain to the courtyard.

It didn't take them long - only a few steps at best.

As soon as Hachiro reached the door, he pressed a hand to it and pushed it open. The feeling of the evening air hit his face full-force, and he couldn't help but take in a a deep breath. "I see that the day is still young..." He said, his blue eyes setting themselves on what lay in front of him. As his blue eyes set themselves on what was in front of him, he allowed himself to walk steadily with his hands still behind his back. One of them was pulled away to give a wave as he approached.

"This was incredible! I don't know why more of the Gotei 13 use these amazing creatures as air support?!" Daisuke said, deeply enamored by the large Dragonbird that they were able to utilize. Wearing Police Colors over its brilliant colored body, the bird was dominated the epicenter of the courtyard, gathering a good few dozen eyes to gawk and stare at the amazing beast.

"Mainly due to the fact that Soul Reapers can levitate by manipulating the spiritual energy underneath the soles of their feet," Kukkyōna spoke plainly, silently chiding his son for being so expressive and yet couldn't bring himself to do so now, "Hohō's basic practices is the ability to levitate in the air, to allow us more versatility. No high demand for the Soul Reaper arts where they keep these fair creatures," Kukkyōna looked over at Avaron, whom had sat near the middle, but in front of Kukkyōna while behind the other tomboyish-feminine passenger that came with them. He asked with a soft yet plain tone, "right, Avaron?"

In response, the said Avaron smirked in a gesture of pride. "Yup!" She said mirthfully. "You can keep your traditional and boring techniques. We've got pimped-out rides!" The sentence was made in jest, of course, and didn't have any insulting intentions. She looked out towards the courtyard she had landed in, noting all the slack-jawed expressions that her bird was receiving. "See? These Soul Reapers are so impressed that they can't even speak!"

The other female let out a heavy sigh, working out her neck and closing her eyes in an expression of slight discomfort. "Let's just get off this damn thing. Though all the attention's on the bird, I don't like being part of the center of attention..." She turned her eyes toward a blonde and considerably sized man approaching them, followed by what appeared to be his subordinate. Those same eyes widened slightly when he gave a casual wave.

"Wait a minute... doesn't he realize who I am? Why is he waving so casually? Does he even notice me yet?"

"C'mon, Sakura, you can lighten up just a little," Daisuke said, easily lifting himself off his perch and stepping down the ladder built onto the harness, hopping down halfway. He looked up and held hands in a gesture that looked expectantly at Sakura, "let's get down to buisness and introduce yourself to my Captain. I can't wait for you two to meet!"

Kukkyōna allowed himself to chuckle at the term, shrugging in admittance, "As you wish. After all, there's nothing about being less formal these days," he looked after the Captain approaching, waving his left hand while keeping his right hand wrapped around comfortably on Avaron's waistline, "hello there, Captain Horikawa! How has your Division faired without your Lieutenant? I hope we didn't deprive of you of an irreplaceable asset for too long..." Kukkyōna stretched out his lines, lightly joking with the Captain. Among the two closest of comrades, Ryouken and Hachiro have always been the least formal when around each toher. Acting like old war veterans who've shared many experiences together, the three would always know a way to get under each other's skin or charm them when desired to.

A chuckle escaped Hachiro's lips when he heard the elder Hayate speak the words to him, folding his hand right behind his back and stopping when he got close enough. "Ah, not to worry, Kukkyōna!" He said back, smiling in amusement. "The Ninth's been doing just swell as it always has been. Though, I was about to ask..." His eyes drifted towards his Lieutenant. "I hope Lieutenant Daisuke didn't cause too much trouble during your little get-away. I don't think His Majesty could've handled it!"

Eager to get off the bird and away from the prying eyes, Sakura allowed herself to grasp his hand and use his aid to pull herself on the way down. Avaron wrapped her arm around Kukkyōna's shoulder for her to do the same, giving a slight nod of appreciation at the gentlemanly gesture.

Kukkyōna chuckled nervously, "You probably need to get me drunk if I was to speak with you about what Daisuke's adventures got himself into..."

"Ha ha," Daisuke said dryly as he rolled his eyes, bringing Sakura gently by the hand towards the direction of his Captain, bowing first before speaking, "its good to be back, Captain Horikawa."

"Good to have you back, Lieutenant Hayate," Seiryō said, walking over to his Captain's side while smiling at Daisuke, "I was beginning to worry that I was going to take over all of your duties additionally for a much longer period of time..."

"Glad my presence is sorely appreciated," Daisuke said, laughing lightly at his joke with his friend and comrade.

Hachiro put a hand on Seiryō's shoulder. "Yes, Seiryō worked very hard while you were off dealing with the situation in Yūrei. If he hadn't, you would've certainly been stuck with a bunch of paperwork. Though he did his best to fill in your shoes, your presence was still quite missed." He tilted his head to the side, switching his gaze over towards a slightly narrowed-eyed Sakura. "And who's this particular girl, if I may ask?"

"Uh..." Avaron stood on her tip-toes so that she could reach Kukkyōna's ear and whisper in it. "Is it a good idea to let Miss Nihilism over there interact with this guy? Considering that he's Daisuke's Captain, I always thought he would carry a more optimistic nature and they could end up colliding with one another..."

Kukkyōna, having long since left the back of the brightly colored chimera-like avarian steed, arched a brow at Avaron's query, "Worrying that Daisuke's superior will be a bit too disapproving? He may be not as formal as most Captains go, but he knows when to hold his peace...you wouldn't believe how many times Captain Sasayaki tried to get a rise out of him, and always just get a laugh at his face."

"This is the woman I've been telling you about over the reports," Daisuke said with a wide smile, wrapping his arm around Sakura's shoulders and held her close to his side in a encouraging effort to alleviate her discomfort, "this is Sakura Kojima. She's my...umm...girlfriend," Daisuke blushed slightly, but still held the smile as he turned to his said girlfriend and flourished a hand to his superior and mentor, "this is Captain Horikawa, the man who's taught much of what I know now of being a Soul Reaper-"

"Don't mind me," Seiryō said, smiling slightly as he had a twitch residing above his browline, "I'm just scenery for you two to admire, I don't actually exist or anything..."

"And this egotistical glorified man who's dressed in black," Daisuke said in a overdamatic, jocular tone, bowing in heavy emphasis of his teasing, "is the great, magnificent, 3rd Seat Seiryō Soysoyo."

Hachiro nodded in acknowledgement, smiling at the woman despite the narrowed-eye look he got. "Nice to meet you--"

"So you're his Captain?" With the tone of voice she took, one could tell she wasn't going to be nice. "Yeah, you have to be. I can practically smell the optimism rolling right off of you, old geezer. You must be the happiest fucking guy in this military company, huh? Tell me, when you go to the bathroom to take a shit, do you fart rainbows and puke sprinkles?" She sneered at him, expecting him to balk at her insults or even cringe at her choice of words.

But to her slight surprise, he didn't.

"Nope!" He answered readily, as if seeing the insult come from a mile away. "Just intelligence, wisdom, and pieces of advice. I do it everywhere I go."

"Yeah..." Sakura was quick to go back to her rude and and snide tone in an instant. "Bet your wisdom was real good for the Lieutenant that died."

"Why you-!"

"Well what do you know?! I have yet to introduce you to the rest of the Division, Sakura!" Daisuke intervened narrowly before the 3rd Seat could retort with fire, pulling her away from both the Captain and the 3rd Seat with ease, albeit most probably dragging Sakura along her feet.

"Hmm," Kukkyōna observed with a frown as he saw Daisuke pull her away just as she began to speak vehemently towards Daisuke's superior, "I'm getting the sinking suspicion she decided to speak roughly to get back at Daisuke for bringing her in front of everybody...."

"Oh, wait a minute, Daisuke!"

However, Hachiro had moved quickly, placing a hand on his Lieutenant's shoulder just before he could get out of arm's reach. Unlike the 3rd Seat who had reacted with anger, he reacted as if he had been simply caught off guard by Daisuke's sudden intervention rather than what Sakura had told him. This tone caught her off her guard, and instinctively spun around to face him.

"Oh, what?" She said bitterly. "You were his Captain. He was your responsibility, and--"

"No, it wasn't."

Hachiro's smile had disappeared, but the positive and casual tone had not left his voice. He lowered his gaze so that he could stare into hers. "As my Lieutenant, he only served as my right-hand, not an apprentice." He explained. "My advice was merely a door opener. He was the one that made the choice to step through. He did it with confidence, valor, and the desire to protect the ones that he valued the most. He was one of the best soldiers under my command, and in the end, he died with honor and dignity. I could never ask for more than that out of my subordinates, could you?"

Silence. Genuine shock was on Sakura's face as she saw Hachiro smile again in a pleasant manner, the insult clearly not having penetrated him at all. She was rendered speechless. He had defended his Lieutenant without the need for rage, extreme defensiveness, or even emotion. It was almost... frightening to her, how easily he reacted to what she had said.

And thus...

"Heh heh heh heh heh~!" A wide smile came to her face, and she started chuckling in clear amusement. "I think Daisuke was right. We just might get along great, after all." She held a hand out for him to shake - a clear sign of respect. "Oh, and in case Sakura's a bit too much for you, you can call me by my birthname instead. Senkoku."

"Sakura sounds like a much more fitting name for you..." Hachiro answered, extending his own hand and grasping hers to shake it once in a firm motion. It made the girl roll her eyes as he pulled his hand away, but let her smirk remain.

Daisuke felt himself sigh in relief, glad his Captain managed to defuse the fire Sakura intentionally tried to create among his superior and peer. He locked eyes with Seiryō, seeing a slight disturbed look on his face before visible relaxing if not slightly scowling at Sakura. Inwardly, the young Hayate knew he was going to have problems if he didn't try to talk to him.

Tour de la Société, Bitter Memories and Forgotten Plans
Meanwhile...

Kukkyōna looked to Avaron with a slight interested look in his eyes, whispering to her, "Do you feel like you're up to meeting my Division, Avaron-chan?"

"Well, you did bring me here to show us around..." Avaron said back, a smile donning her features. "So, yeah, I might as well start with your division." She moved herself, one of her hands moving to grasp Kukkyōna's. "Lead me on, noble..."

Kukkyōna smiled back, warmly squeezing her hand as he began walking out of the courtyard for the 9th Division's barracks, and onto the cobblestone streets where he'd lead her to the 6th Division's Barracks. The walk was a bit uneventful, as any patrolling Soul Reapers would merely bow to Kukkyōna's passing and look twice slightly at Avaron, if not to be backed off by Kukkyōna's subtle death glares. Eventually, he passed by the 5th Division Barracks that wasn't that far away from his own Division's Barracks.

Ryouken walked around the perimeter of the Barracks, happening upon Kukkyōna and Avaron as he was about to reenter, bearing a hearty smile upon seeing them, "Hello there, Kukkyōna-san! I didn't know you were arriving so soon...and with a woman I see, you sly dog-"

"Skipping your routine inspection and letting your Lieutenant do it for you, again, Captain Aizen," Kukkyōna looked knowingly, as he percieved the nonchalant way he was walking outside his own barracks and the slight derailing greeting he gave the two of them.

Ryouken smiled sheepishly, his eye twitched nervously at being caught, before dropping his head low and saying lowly, "C'mon man...I just needed a break to stretch my legs..."

"Gee, what an example to set for your minions and henchmen, Captain..." Avaron said sarcastically, rolling her eyes in good humor. She placed her free hand on her hip. "You make all of us hard workers look bad."

"Oh-ho, time out there," Ryouken said as he raised his hands in attempt to halt the verbal attack, "its not like I do it on a daily basis. I work here for a living you know, and I'd be fired if I slacked off all the time..."

"Just enough that you can get away with it," Kukkyōna said with a belated sigh, before looking Avaron with a smirk, slightly winking at her before introducing her with a flourish of his free hand, "in case you're wondering who this responsible beautiful woman is beside me, this is Captain Avaron Setsuko of the Yūrei Police Force. She'll be staying for a time here in the Soul Society."

"A pleasure to meet such a fiery spirit to match the equally stoic spark of the Hayate Clan," Ryouken spoke in a respectable, fetching tone while grasping her own free hand in a gentlemanly manner before kissing the back of her hand chastely, "Avaron-hime."

A sly smirk graced Avaron's features when Ryouken kissed her hand. "You men grace me with such strong titles..." She said lightly. "But it's nice to see that there's variety in the personalities in this big group. The pleasure's all mine..." She followed this statement up with a slight bow of the head - a sign of respect for the Captain.

"To be in the presence of the Head of the Noble House of Hayate in such a manner, you should consider yourself unofficially noble yourself," Ryouken said with a smile, crossing his arms as he conversationally continued, "by the way, I left long before you two did. I'm wondering exactly how is Yūrei fairing now?"

"I'd say it's been going pretty well." Avaron said truthfully, placing her free hand on her hip. "Ever since the integration movement, it's like things have been moving much faster in the capital city. Security patrols are much more active and motivated with the extra help and diversity within the population itself is growing to a substantial amount. I guess even the apocalyptic movement managed to teach us all a lesson in our lives, huh?"

"Good to hear," Ryouken smiled, before putting on a serious expression as he gazed out past the string of buildings that made the Seireitei, towards the Rukonagi Districts, "although, I don't think its left everyone in the same manner as others have."

"What do you mean?" The Noble Hayate probed curiously, not having heard any special briefing about the Soul Society's condition as a whole so far, "has something happened?"

Ryouken looked at him with a serious look, "Nearly a week ago, Captain Takuji of the 10th Division had recieved a confidential piece of information that would allow him to corner a dangerous mercenary group in the Soul Society. After carefully evacuating the citizens within that district, the Captain had nearly several hundred men surround the perimeter, with himself standing the closest in order to make himself a more visible target should they react. After audibly giving them a warning, they reacted with an unexpected amount of firepower...and decimated nearly a third of the neighbourhood, slaughtering over two hundred men while maiming nearly the rest of the survivors."

It was enough to not just shoot away Avaron's jovial mood - but shoot it straight down to Hell.

"Mercenary group, you say?" She was quick to go into business mode, her eyes staring into Ryouken's. Her hand had involuntarily slipped away from Kukkyōna's so that she could step closer to Ryouken, a slight scowl on her face. "How many where there? Any names, visual descriptions, anything?" She had a feeling that she knew who exactly he was referring to, but she needed confirmation.

"If you want the dossiers on the known affiliates, you'll have to take it up with Captain Takuji," Ryouken said, placing his hands on his hips as he locked his eyes with Avaron's with an equally serious gaze, knowing just how buisness talk with other people goes, "he's the one who recieved the anonymous intel package about them and their identities, as well as their current HQ. Apparently they're a mobile group, not staying in one place for more than a couple months before moving and clean house, leaving nothing to suspect of their presence."

"Do you happen to know where we can find him?" Kukkyōna asked, inwardly cringing at losing contact with Avaron's hand, but outwardly betrayed nothing, his stoic features emanated a serious understanding of the situation.

"The Captain, unfortunately, has closed off all access to his whereabouts and social access to the 10th Division," Ryouken said, emphasizing with quotation marks with his gloved fingers as he did so, "his talk with the Head Captain did not improve his disposition of his failure to capture them. That, and another more personal matter involving the Takuji Clan's two branches is affecting his duties, so he's currently leaving his 3rd Seat in charge of any extraneous information and management for the Division."

"...yeah. I think I already know now who's he referring to..."

Avaron turned her face away, her blue eyes narrowed in an angry look and the scowl becoming more prominent on her face. She folded her arms across her chest, drawing in a breath. "Four of their agents had infiltrated the city of Yūrei several months ago. 165 civilians had been killed in their rampage, as well as 40 police officers of the Sector 3 Overwatch. Four individual mercenaries armed with Kidō rifles managing to take down an entire platoon without suffering a single casualty... it's a song and dance I've heard over and over again..."

She walked a few steps away from them before turning around to have both of them in her vision. "With further research, law enforcement managed to acquire their names by extracting data from the corpse of one mercenary we managed to capture. They go by the names of Angelika Hartmann, Anton Semenov, Oliver Holmes, and Shou Yoshizawa. The last one was the one that had been captured and terminated..." Her lip curled slightly, as if the next sentence she was about to say would disgust her. "That very same agent somehow "revived" himself, killed the ones escorting him to the morgue, then proceeded to slaughter hundreds of civilians with the release of his personal Zanpakutō. What you've told me just now just supports my suspicions..." She closed her eyes and lowered her head for a moment in thought.

"I can guarantee that the problem you're dealing with is none other than the likes of the V-14, a very notorious mercenary group in the criminal underworld."

"I've heard of their group before," Kukkyōna spoke aloud with a solemn tone as he narrowed his eyes at Avaron, "they're a cold, relentless force that has a large grip in almost every part of the underworld within the Soul Society and beyond."

"They must have gotten ranked up, because Captain Takuji cornered them about a couple months ago, during your Ahijados war you were having," Ryouken spoke intuitively as he cupped his chin as he mulled over his thoughts, "they counted additional men besides the ones you never captured. A tomboyish woman that bears uncanny similiarities to another man, both of whom were gunslingers, but have no real relation we suspect. Another one matched the description of a personal subordinate of Captain Takuji's that disappeared a few decades ago for unknown reasons. The others seem to be the ones who haven't been caught, and the ones who've caused your incident in Yūrei."

"They're nothing but a bunch of crazed psychos for hire..." Avaron said coldly. "I would love nothing more than to see them put to justice. But..." She drew in another breath and let out a heavy sigh. "Since the 10th Division's closed off the matter from the outside, I doubt I could do much to help out. Seems more like assistance from us would just get in the way..."

"I'd suggest going to speak with his 3rd Seat adjuntant after your touring visit," Ryouken said with a reassuring smile, "she may not look it, but the 3rd Seat is more than capable of handling the duties that his Captain has left her as well as mediate the Lieutenant's. If you want to assist in the case, that is..."

Kukkyōna nodded to his fellow Captain before looking to Avaron, smiling softly to her, "With that said, I think its time we head to the barracks. I'd hate to keep my Division waiting to meet the woman who kept me off duty for so long, now should I?"

That was enough to break the serious look off of Avaron's face, replacing it with a smile and a nod. "Of course." She walked back up to Kukkyōna's side, slipping her and within his. Her eyes switched over to Captain Ryouken. "It was nice meeting and talking with you, short as the time was, Captain Ryouken. We'll have to do more of it another time, won't we?"

"Yes, we should," Ryouken said, then haughtily laughing, "we should also invite you to a good anual drinking party-"

"No," Kukkyōna said promptly, his scowl giving Ryouken any attempt to lure her to consume alcholic contents have been derailed, "good day, Captain Aizen."

"As to you, Captain Hayate," Ryouken said with a slightly feigned glum expression as he watched them walk away before trudging into his barracks to resume his duties.

It didn't take them long, as the 6th Division's barracks wasn't too far away from the 5th's, having a similar parallel appearance to it as all the barracks do. However, a slight militaristic, uniformity was occuring inside the Division Barracks, as a tall imposing officer was observing the excercises not too far away from the open gate. With the lengthy amount of push-ups and technique procedures being handled by the other officers underneath the one observing them, it didn't take long for Kukkyōna to reach the young officer first with Avaron.

"Lieutenant Yunban," Kukkyōna said in a stoic tone, gaining the attention of the raven-black haired man, "I'm pleased to see the Division is still doing well."

"Not nearly good enough," the man spoke in a mature, cold tone as he narrowed his eyes, "but they are doing welll enough to meet standard Division parameters."

"...and the first one I happened to meet is an ice-cube. This probably won't go as I expected it to..."

The smile was wiped away from Avaron's face as she eyed the Lieutenant carefully. He appeared to be quite young, with short black hair, grey eyes, and a Caucasian complexion. However, he radiated the aura of a senior military officer with his stance as well as a person who took social distance to the extreme. She knew right away that what she was entering would probably be something far from outgoing and sociable. However, the thoughts caused her to smile in amusement. She would be such a wild card in their midst.

"Wow..." She said dryly, voicing her thoughts. "Can you say "human ice-cube" much?"

"Excuse me?" The man said in a slightly cold tone, not snarling or baring teeth, but merely locking his sharp eyes with her own, "may you repeat that and identify yourself-?"

"Lieutenant," Kukkyōna spoke with a rather commanding tone, earning the Lieutenant's withdrawl from hostility to one of tranquil neutrality, "I would like for you to address our guest, Captain Setsuko of the Yūrei Police Force, with a bit more hospitality if you please."

A sudden light flashed behind the Lieutenant's eyes, causing his eyes to widen and his pupils to dialate suddenly as if realizing something. After regaining his composure, via clearing of his throat, the Lieutenant looked at her with a more even if not more approving stare, "Excuse my rudeness, Captain Setsuko. If I had known you'd be arriving so soon, I'd prepared the barracks to be more accomadating to your preferences."

Avaron frowned, her eyebrows furrowed in a slightly complaining manner. "Pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant, but... you don't have to make it sound like such a big deal..." She nodded her head slightly over towards Kukkyōna. "Captain Kukkyōna wanted to take me here and show me around. It's not like I'm here to perform some big inspection or anything..."

"With someone with your stature, I would've made the place more welcome and have less duties being preformed around the barracks," Seishuku spoke in a explanatory tone, turning his back in a swift 180 towards the men in the courtyard.

After taking a few long strides, Seishuku spoke in a declaring tone, "That's enough exercises today. You can get to your individual assignments now and then take some recess afterwards. Is that understood?"

"Sir yes, Lieutenant sir!" Rang out the Soul Reapers in a affirmative, crisp military manner. As soon as the men began filing away, however, they began to talk more animatedly and socially, though not a single one of them seemed bothered by their militaristic strict superior. Or at least let it show...

Kukkyōna leaned over to whisper to Avaron's ear, "He's been likes this ever since he signed up with the Academy. He's a very commanding, expectant person but he's not an all-around cold person. If you have title and reputation preceding you, he'll talk to you like any admiring peer and subordinate. But...," Kukkyōna trailed off as the Lieutenant turned around crisply and nodded his head to the Captain, the prior man returning the gesture before he left for the center of the courtyard to preform his own exercises, "he's hard to socialize with, considering one of the only things he respects in a person is their fighting capabilities and their ability to lead or follow orders."

"Sounds like he'd get along great with the machines of society..." Avaron muttered, her eyebrows furrowing in slight disapproval. "But, I suppose I can't really judge. I guess I should count myself lucky to be the commander of the Police Force and not a subordinate anymore..." She tilted her head to the side, allowing herself to look over the ones that were socializing. "That, and I can see that no one seems to be deterred by his command..."

"The Sixth Division embodies the principles of the Elite, the most organized and well-tuned Division within the Gotei 13 short of the 1st Division itself," Kukkyōna explained as he watched the socializing of his own subordinates as they filed away into the barracks and other doors of the courtyard, while Seishuku began preforming his own sets of excercises, "each member of the Division brings the potential of becoming a talented and excellent Soul Reaper. While we focus on honing combat training, we also make sure that tactics are rehearsed, new types of scenarios are tested, and new types of entities discovered are debriefed to the men so they won't be surprised when they find it or freeze in the battlefield."

Kukkyōna then allowed himself to smile as he stared thoughtfully at Seishuku, "You could say we're a more disciplined form of the 11th Division, save for our focus derives in other areas than merely swordsmanship combat."

"More disciplined, you say?"

It wasn't the voice of Avaron that had spoken... but rather, the voice of another that had spoken from behind them.

Avaron immediately snapped her head to see the source of the voice with her arms folded across her chest. In contrast to the traditional Japanese attire that the majority of them were bearing, she wore a Western attire reminiscent of what someone would wear in Yūrei. She had long, blonde hair and brown skin. In her mouth was a lit cigar, the smoke steadily rising into the air. She had a slight frown on her face, her eyebrow cocked as she eyed the noble.

"Apparently, their discipline isn't enough if making fun of other divisions behind their back is encouraged..." She said dryly with a hint of sarcasm. "And this is just right after you've come back from Yūrei..."

"Imposing as usual, Captain Nagasaki," Kukkyōna said without turning, crossing his arms over his chest as he sideglanced her with a turn of his head, disapprovingly staring at her attire, "you're not wearing your Haori again, Captain."

It was a running habit for the said Noriko Nagasaki to choose her usual Western attire instead of the traditional haori - something that at least one captain was willing to chide her for. It was a side effect of the integration movement with Yūrei. Some of the Gotei 13 members chose to wear Western variants of their usual attire in an effort to embrace this integration, at the risk of criticism. So at Kukkyōna's hidden accusation, the blonde-haired woman smirked in amusement.

"I didn't feel like wearing it." She said coolly, taking the cigar between two fingers and pulling it from her mouth. "Besides, you're not one to talk about someone else's carelessness, voluntary or otherwise. Have you forgotten what day it is?"

Kukkyōna turned around to fully face the westernized, masculine garbed Captain, his hands now held at his sides as he locked his eyes with hers. After looking at the cool, expectant expression in her blue irises, he realized she came here for some reason, almost like she needed him for something. He then noticed despite her non-traditional attire, she had her Zanpakuto clipped onto her belt accordingly, meaning despite not being "on-duty" she carried her weapon with her. That means she was either doing a mission or...

"Dammit," Kukkyōna muttered under his breath uncharacteristically, cupping his face with his left hand before smoothing it out with a reluctant look in his eyes, "can't we postpone this for another time when I'm not in the company of a beautiful woman?"

"Hm?"

It was here that Avaron's ears perked up, and she turned her eyes towards Kukkyōna curiously. "Postpone what? Is there something going on traditionally that I don't happen to know about?" She asked, raising her free hand to scratch her nose momentarily.

"Only a little competition we've introduced as a part of competitive relations, you could say." Noriko answered her, her tone clearly expressing that she had heard Kukkyōna's swear. She turned her blue eyes towards the orange-haired female. "Every month, we clash swords in a sparring session to see who's the better swordsman. Simply put, it's just a sport that the 6th and 11th Division put together as a product of friendly rivalry."

"Really?" An intrigued smile came across Avaron's face, and she looked up at Kukkyōna. "If that's the case, then you won't have to worry about hindering any plans with me..." She assured him casually. "Sparring between two skilled swordfighters is usually fun to watch, and I've never had the chance to see you in action. What harm could it do?"

"On top of that..." Noriko added, turning her gaze to Kukkyōna's direction. From the way she was speaking, it was clear that she was subtly prodding and jabbing at him. "There's already a small group of an audience waiting for both of us. It'd be a shame to see that the great noble of the Hayate Family decided not to show up out of fear that he would get trounced by a lady..."

"With the amount of masculine clothing you wear, I doubt anyone would care that I'd lose to you, male or female," Kukkyōna said in a cool, contempted tone as his eyes locked onto hers. After realizing that he'd be gossipped about if he tried to cancel the fight and put the other onlookers to disappointment. That, and it appears as if Avaron wanted to watch...

"Alright, Noriko-san," he said in a slightly more civil, social tone as he smiled lightly as his eyes met with a steely gaze towards hers, "if you really want to revisit the last experience I made you endure, then feel free to repeat history again. Just tell me where we're going to this time, considering it seems we like to choose different themes everytime we do this for different affects for the audience's pleasure..."

That was enough to wipe the smirk right off of Noriko's face, at least for a moment.

"Hmph..." She stuck the cigarette back where it was before, holding it between her lips. Though not much had changed about her expression, it was clear that she was regarding him with the same attitude that he was giving her. "We'll have to see about that, won't we?" She turned herself away from the two of them, barely noting Avaron's anticipating grin as she walked away to lead. "The 3rd Division Captain was kind enough to let the fight take place in her courtyard. Plenty of room to move around in and plenty of room for the crowd to gather."

Let the games begin, Most anticipated showdown in the Seireitei!
Kukkyōna allowed him to smile as he wrapped an arm around Avaron, walking in the general direction that combat specialist Captain was leading them, "That Captain Tachibana is probably setting up betting pools again. I wouldn't be surprised if she bet on you, considering from what I overheard she made a lot of money from the last bout we had."

"Figures..." Noriko snorted lightly, not pausing to turn towards them as she walked. "Tachibana always has a habit of making money out of these sorts of things. It's even worse, considering that she has a high streak of luck on her side. I almost feel sorry for the ones betting on the one she's not..."

Kukkyōna allowed himself to smile in amusement, sideglancing Noriko as he fell in step with her, inwardly finding it funny that out of all the people present that it was the 3rd Division Captain who won winnings, no matter who the winner was. Either she had incredible foresight or just incredible luck...whichever it was, Kukkyōna learned long ago the hard way that no one should ever bet against someone who's that confident.

It took them nearly a hour's trek, leaving plenty of time for Kukkyōna and Noriko, as well as Avaron to chat nonsensically about life, how the Gotei 13 was doing as well as the latest gossip about the other Noble Houses, usually leaving Kukkyōna silent and irked about it ever being brought up.

"They're here!" Daisuke, unsurprisingly to Kukkyōna's chagrin, called out as both himself and Sakura along with his own Captain and a few other wandering assortment of unseated members and officers, a good number of Captains were also present.

Among the present was the Captains and Lieutenants of the 3rd and 7th Division respectively.

Gina Tachibana sat with her Lieutenant Tamiko Okayama on a large cloth usually meant for picnics. Tamiko was sitting cross-legged, playing the guitar in the form of entertainment for the ones around her. Gina, however, was sitting with her legs stretched out and her knees bent in a more relaxed position - a sign that she was fully ready to enjoy the scene that would play out in front of them. When her eyes drifted to Noriko and Kukkyōna approaching the "center stage" due to Daisuke's enthusiastic response, she was quick to be the first one to speak.

"And the main event has finally arrived!" She declared, a grin crossing her face as well as a dramatic gesture with one of her hands. "We were beginning to think you were going to take your sweet time getting here."

"Stow it, Tachibana." Noriko grumbled when she got within vocal range. "The noble apparently forgot on account of the girlfriend he acquired during his mission." The last part was said in jest, and thus earned a raspberry blown by Avaron - a childish movement, but also something that expressed the acknowledgement of humor.

"We're glad that you could make it here, Nagasaki-taichou." Masahiro Sugiyama, the Lieutenant of the 11th Division, greeted her with that statement as well as a respective bow. "I made sure to send a heads-up to everyone available so that they would have no reason to miss anything. Duels between two Gotei 13 Captains aren't something you see every day, after all..."

This brought a smile on Noriko's face. "Good work, Lieutenant. I can smell a promotion coming your way soon."

"Thank you for the-- wait..." The statement made Masahiro recoil and stop himself, regarding his Captain with confusion. "Promotion? But you're already in the Captain's seat."

"Exactly. I was just kidding you."

"...oh, how cruel you are, sir." The Lieutenant sighed, rolling his eyes at the Captain's "joke". But it was clear he took it in stride.

"You'd better win, Kukkyōna!" Hachiro warned, folding his arms across his chest. "I have a good feeling that I just might show Gina up and end her lucky streak, so don't go ruining it for me!" He paused, adding as an afterthought. "And the other people who bet on you, too..."

Idly, Sakura raised her hand.

"Everyone must be crazy to bet against my dad," Daisuke thought aloud, as he noticed only a fraction of what he expected bet for Kukkyōna, furrowing his brows confusedly, "I mean, Sakura at least believes in his skill, why does everyone think the loser of last time's bout is going to win?"

"Thank you for the support," Kukkyōna said in a cool, thankful tone as he bowed in their direction moving over to their direction of the assembled, "I notice quite a crowd has gathered."

"Of course buddy!" Ryouken appeared out of the blue, patting Kukkyōna much to his chagrin heartily on the back, "everyone loves to watch two Elite swordsmen clash against each other in a feigned duel to the death!-"

"You left your Lieutenant to tend to your Division, didn't you?" Kukkyōna narrowed his eyes disapprovingly at Ryouken causing him to chuckle sheepishly.

"Ah, Senshi never cared for social events like this," Ryouken waved it off, chuckling, "after all...since the Division doesn't know about it and Senshi doesn't care for it, it doesn't mean everybody in the Division has to miss out."

"How unbecoming of you, Captain Aizen," a cold voice rang out, as what seemed to be the cool toned Lieutenant of the 6th approaching with a band of officers from the same, "I believed you to be a man of better standards than that. Once again, I feel disappointed..."

"Hey-Hey! We're all friends here right?!" Ryouken said raising his arms up, trying to get a show of hands in support of the question to save face.

"Yeah..."

Qilin allowed himself a smirk as he sat on a picnic cloth right beside Gina and Tamiko, smirking at the predicament that Ryouken had gotten himself into. "But it won't stop us from picking on you as often as we do. It's a thing between friends, after all..."

"Yes, indeed," Ryouken sighed thankfully as he took his own seat near Qilin and his Lieutenant, smiling warmly as he anticipated the exchange of blades between the two well known swordsmen.

"Glad you both could make it!" Tetsuyo Miyagi said lightly, giving a positive grin to them both as well as a wave.

As Avaron allowed herself to part ways with Kukkyōna for the time being, she chose to sat down beside Daisuke and his two compatriots. "Think they believe in the concept "Since X one last time, Y's gonna win this time..." She commented coolly. "Can't exactly put my money on either one considering I haven't seen anything for myself, but I'm tempted to lean more towards the underdog. Just out of sympathy, though..."

"Your loss," Daisuke said cheekily as he rubbed his palms together, "I may not like to risk big, but I have confidence that dad's going for two wins in a row. I mean, the one before this was a draw, so its not like she's really won yet..."

Seishuku, in the meanwhile, chose a corner on the farthest edge of where the others were seated, dropping down along with the rest of the 6th Division officers present, readily anticipating a tense showdown.

To start off, Noriko positioned herself.

First, she tossed the green coat off of her shoulders and tossed it in the direction of Masahiro, who swiftly caught it in both arms without so much as recoiling at the sudden movement. Then, she allowed herself to walk until she was at the traditional fighter's distance, drawing her sword from its sheath and brandishing it. At the movement, Tamiko stopped her guitar playing, causing the area fall into a still and tense silence. Noriko couldn't help but smirk at the slight chill down her spine courtesy of the ambience. It was a perfect setting.

Slowly, she turned herself towards Kukkyōna, the smirk still on her face. "I'm ready, noble."

"Here," Kukkyōna said to Daisuke, taking off his Haori and folding it neatly over itself until it was a neat square white-black stack handing it to his son, "watch this for me while I go enjoy a good warm-up excercise."

"Sure thing," Daisuke said with an excited smile on his face, taking the folded uniform carefully before setting it on his lap as he sat indian style next to Sakura, "go kick her ass!"

"I'll make sure to past the sentiment," Kukkyōna said with a light chuckle, turning around before walking slowly towards the arena, his sandals sifted through the grass and soil softly and methodically.

Seishuku looked on intently, awaiting to see his superior engage in the monthly duel that always got everyone's attention. He always took notes, from memory or sketch, of what transpires in their duels, aiming to find a way to find both their weaknesses and strengths, grasping for the latter and discarding the prior. Eventually, he'd use their complimented set of skills to defeat both master swordsmen, proclaiming himself as the master swordsman of the Soul Society...which would undoubtedly lead to his recognition for a promotion to Captaincy.

As the Captain left his son's side to the center of the battlefield, a subtle shadow of a man watching from the distant corner of the far end of the courtyard watched onwards. His young visage was hidden by a black hood, obscuring everything above the bridge of his nose save for his fair toned young face with the rest of his body hidden by a black cloak.

His hair flowed smoothly around in their individual strands, scarlet pigmented strands flowed over his beige silk scarf, his crown's braids holding fast his noble and trim appearance as his eyes gained its stoic, unmoved features once again. Once he reached his own position he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, in and out, before slowly sifting his feet into a fighting stance. His hand grasped for his right left hip's Zanpakuto, assuming an Iaido stance as he did so, his eyes still shut as he readied himself for the combat session.

That was all the signal Noriko needed.

WOOSH!

With a single movement, she was in front of Kukkyōna. Her sword was raised in the air before the blade was swung down. It was a move meant to disrupt the iaido movement as well as a mild race to beat him to the first swing. If it worked, she predicted a retreat and a small opportunity to gain the offensive quickly. But if it didn't, then she would have to deal with the field being even for the beginning. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration as she attacked, putting nothing but swift and lethal grace behind her movements.

He didn't even need to open his eyes to know the direction of her attack. Using his back leg as a pivot, Kukkyōna spun around the blade's intended path instead of merely backpedaling or countering. He could hear the ringing of the blade whistle in tune with the beat of his heart, cutting a few strands of his hair as he managed to move away from her downard arc and appear to her vulnerable side. It was then, that his eyes opened to narrowed slits, initiating his attack.

CLICK-SHIIIINK-CLICK!

After unlatching his blade during his maneuver, Kukkyōna unsheathed his sword in a graceful, well-aimed arc towards the exposed shoulder in a diagonal arc before retracting it in a figure eight manner, halway sheathing his weapon within a hue of silver light emanated by the faint sunrays reflecting off his weapon. The move was so fast, only his opponent would be able to see the true motion of his blade instead of the blinding blur that it created that made it look like he was standing still.

It was a movement that created the grin of anticipation on Noriko's face.

WOOSH!

She leaned back quickly, the blade tip barely missing her clothing. It was an old yet effective technique to use - the technique of moving with just enough room to barely avoid the enemy's strike. That way, the counter-attack would be quicker than it normally would, leaving the opponent with little time to counter of his own. As he retracted his sword, she chose that moment to strike again. Her blade swung in a horizontal strike towards his chest before curving for an upwards diagonal uppercut. These movements were fluid and flawless, and not a single one proved to be wasteful. It made the situation all the more tense, in the case of the audience.

Kukkyōna did not even blink as she came at him again, playing the part of defender once more.

CLICK-SHIIINK-CRACK-TING!

He chose to slide his feet back, spreading his stance out while in the middle of unsheathing his blade for the attack once more. But instead of intending to evade the attack, he made sure to send the amazing high-sped strike towards the offending blade itself, clashing briefly with a bright clash of steel spewing sparks before twisting it upwards and away high above his head.

It was then that Kukkyōna chose to counterattack within that moment. Turning his blade clockwise while moving up close to his opponent, he grasped the hilt with both hands keeping the blade itself in front of himself, making a near diagonal dividing line as he swung for the point below her neck and across her chest. The style of using a strong direct strike while coming up close to one's opponent in a focused effort of strength and tenacity. This is known...as Kendo.

Whumpf!

Noriko's reflexes allowed her to the sudden attack - but not in the traditional way.

She bent her free arm and thrust her forearm out due to their close proximity. That forearm collided with Kukkyōna's wrists, blocking the kendo attack and stopping the blade from reaching her head. With a parry of her arm, she pushed his arms up in the air before taking her sword and delivering a thrust motion straight towards his exposed torso. But she didn't stop at one solo attack. Instead, she unleashed a series of lunges and thrusts in order to push Kukkyōna back and break his defense. The first strike aimed to throw off his coordination, and the latter attacks were to completely destroy it.

Such thoughts were keeping the smile locked in place as she struck at him.

Kukkyōna narrowed his eyes as his initial strike was blocked. Foreseeing a relentless barrage of attacks, he resorted to switching styles as he backed up within a instant and released his hold with both hands to allow a swifter and fiercer response to her attacking strike.

CLANG!

His attack met with equal resolve, before parrying with a series of thrusts and slashes of his own, all intended to match her ferocious flurry of blade-fed attacks. A shower of sparks cascaded around them like a rain of a ancient metalic sound, given birth when the first swords were crafted and then met each other in a glorious ceremonial joining of blood and battle.

When the array of attacks drawn out to nearly thirty seconds, Kukkyōna decided to act. Parrying one blow to the side, before ducking a horizontal swipe, Kukkyōna suddenly leaped after the dodging crouch, his left hand deftly reached for his second Zanpakuto on his right hip.

SHINK-SLASH!

And with a sudden unsheathing, slashing motion that blurred within the air, his aim meaning to cut a thin enough line to make it look like it would miss, as the Captain would be easily able to outmaneuver it...as he aimed for the bridge of her nose up her forehead when it appeared he aimed for her whole head, intending on depriving her of a particular item that rested over her eyes. He exited the improvised attack as he landed with a crouch behind her, with both identical Zanpakuto swords in each hand, held in diagonal arcs to cross one in front of the other.

That was when all movement stopped.

After the movement, Noriko suddenly felt her glasses being pushed up and slid off of her face by his blade, the tip barely missing her face. The smile fell, and her eyes widened slightly when she realized what had happened. The glasses themselves flew up in the air, reached the zero point, and then fell back down to the ground a distance away. Fortunately, there had not been enough force applied to break them, so they simply lay there in the grass. But the 11th Division Captain made no move to pick them up. She straightened herself up, lowering her sword for a moment. Then, after several seconds of silence, she spoke.

"That was my favorite pair of glasses."

She turned her head so that she could look over her shoulder at him, her gaze unamused.

"Don't you have any manners?"

"Swordsmanship is about how to use the tool in your hand to the best of your abilities," Kukkyōna said back in a unmoved manner, still holding his stance, "resorting in using your arm to block my Kendo attack shows a sign of weakness within the timing available to use your sword to counter that attack or land a blow on me. Consider the fact I kept from scratching that unfemminate face of yours or breaking your glasses a small token of honor I have as a swordsman."

"Oh, don't try and educate me on how I fight..."

Noriko allowed herself to turn around to face Kukkyōna, pointing the blade tip straight back at Kukkyōna. The smirk had returned to her face once more, courtesy of the masculine remark. "And don't even try to tell me how "unfeminine" I am..." She continued dryly. "Because the more you point it out, the more I'm convinced I'm a better man than you could ever be. And that's terrible..." To punctuate that sentence, she raised her blade and leveled it defensively at Kukkyōna, the blade gleaming in the sunlight. She had taken to placing her other hand in her pocket, finding it useless for the time being.

"...they seem real intent on insulting each other in such sexist forms, huh...?" Qilin muttered to his subordinate, who gave a sheepish shrug.

"Th-they only get like this when they speak to each other. I guess the tendencies of the Kuchiki and Kenpachi of old carried over..."

Kukkyōna smiled back, asking aloud, "How does it feel to repeat history, Noriko-san? I think it was right around the time I drew my second sword was when the tip of the battle bent toward my favor, and I believe I sliced your glasses in half last time..." the Noble then assumed a dangerous pose, reminiscent to the last time he combatted her favoring his dual style adaptable sword art, "and I'm not going to let some cheaply dressed woman get the better of me!"

Daisuke sweatdropped, chuckling sheepishly as he looked over to Avaron and Sakura both, "Hehehe, uh, he must be really enjoying himself, don't you think?"

"Give it to him, Captain Hayate!"

"Yeah! Cut her hair off so she can feel more manly about herself!"

"Kick her ass!"

With a sigh, Seishuku crossed his arms and ignored the shouts of his fellow officers. Considering this was an off-duty occasion, he felt no need to quiet them down for enjoying their recreational outing. He did however plan to make them suffer when drills and duties were scheduled...

"...I think I preferred him when he was being a stoic jerk-ass..." Even Sakura was a bit deterred at the change of tone that Kukkyōna had taken, her head unconsciously leaning back a little. "Now, he's just starting to creep me out..."

"You and me both, sister..." Avaron muttered. "I can see where you got your enthusiasm from, Daisuke..."

Only Noriko seemed to be truly undeterred at the challenging statement, but was surprised to see that there was a crowd cheering more for the noble rather than herself - even if it was just from his division. "Well, well..." She commented. "I think I'm starting to feel the heat, noble. But that's just not enough. You haven't repeated history until you've managed to beat me." For emphasis, she swung her sword out in a readying gesture, spitting out the cigar to the side. "So let's bring on the fire, shall we?"

SCRRRRAPE!

"Let's!" Kukkyōna said with a resumed stoic expression, the sparks flew from his blade as he scraped both of their edges in a intimidating gesture, moreover for show than actual affect against such an experienced and skilled warrior like Noriko. With that said, he leaped towards her flourishing his blades in as how of true aggressive swordsmanship.

The battle's intensity increased, and only time will tell, who this month's victor will be...

Progress Made, The Five Week Training Session of Hell!
"Put your back into it, Rukia!" Kaien shouted, from atop a high perch on his trademark folding chair, his voice augmented through a speaker phone as he oversaw what looked like a giant eliptical race track. Rukia has been training for the past four weeks since her recovery on building up her stamina.

While normally any ordinary person would think that is a short amount of time to make enough progress, Kaien's training was a bit...eccentric, to say the least. To begin with, he gave her a special set of "weighted" armor for which she'd have to preform the majority of her "tasks" with. From intense martial artist sparring with specially designed Mod Soul combatants, to racing across the track while fleeing a few randomly scattering Kido fire from Senna, to swordsmanship against Kaien. Each week, the weights growing heavier and heavier. What she wore now was so large, it dwarfed her tiny body and made her look larger than she really is while carrying its weight.

Needless to say...it was a hell of an experience.

And Rukia was left to wonder.

How wasn't she dead yet?

She might as well have been made of sweat. She ran across the track in a continuous, steadfast manner, having to ignore the burning that had overtaken her body. That was hard enough within itself, considering her normally petite figure. But the fact that the armor was larger than she was just made it all the more comical and irrational. How was she supposed to even run properly with this on? It was ridiculous! Even if it didn't weigh so heavily, she doubted she would have gotten very far with it. Yet thanks to Kaien's insane training, she was managing the feat with extreme difficulty. Her teeth were gritted, and her eyes were wide open in an attempt to keep from passing out.

Kaien's words of encouragement weren't exactly the best of advice, either.

"If this keeps up..." She thought to herself in comical fright. "I think I might die before I complete this!!"

"That's it! Just two more laps and we can go onto the next stage! Sparring practice, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Kaien said in a jubilious tone, laughing through the megaphone in a semi-manical/evil manner. However, his cackling was interrupted when Senna appeared behind him.

Turning around, Kaien asked aloud incredulously, "What is it, Senna-?"

BONK!

"IDIOT!" Senna said, slamming a giant fan produced from the folds of her sleeves, causing him to wince and whine in pain, "she's passed the expectation level yesterday! She doesn't even need to keep doing the physical excercises of your insane scheming now!"

"Ow ow ow ow!" Kaien winced in pain as he nursed a protruding bruise on his head, looking at his subordinate with waterfall eyes, "no need to use the fan, Senna-chan...I was just being a good mentor..."

"Good mentors don't push their students pass beyond what they need to accomplish," Senna replied in a comical fish-lipped, bland expression.

"Party pooper," he said, sticking out his tongue at her before turning around, grasping the megaphone up and shouting out, "change of plans, Rukia! We're cutting off all physical practice for the day! Your last stage of training is near completion!"

That was all Rukia needed.

Abruptly, the poor girl collapsed onto the track on her face in a visibly humorous manner. She managed to push herself onto her hands and knees, her matted hair hanging over her face. "I... don't think... I can even... see straight now..." She breathed out, pushing herself upon onto her knees and placing her hands onto her face. However, she yanked them back in disgust and shock. She might as well have dived straight into a pool! Her hands were doused with sweat, and she had to flick her wrists several times in order to get it off. "But... if it's Kaien-dono I"m training under... I have full faith that he knows what he's doing...!"

"Poor Rukia!" Senna said as she cupped her eyes and saw her collapse on her hands and knees on the field, "she's completely exhausted!" She reared her head to glare at Kaien, "you're so mean, Kaien-teme!"

"No need to name call, Senna-chan," Kaien said, his gleam hiding his thoughtful look he had overlooking the field and the position where Rukia was resting, "we'll get her to the rejuvenating pools and have her restored. This next part...she'll need all of her newfound strength to muster through it."

With a roll of her eyes, Senna sighed as she nodded, "Yes, Captain," before leaping off headfirst of the tall tower which Kaien errected for the overseeing of Rukia's incredibly arduous training. Within a few moments of her fall, wind gathered innately around Senna, causing her to smile as her body was caught in a coursing assembled mass of wind-formed threads, forming what would almost appear like a pair of angelic transparent wings. Just before reaching a handful of meters to the ground, Senna lifted up and soared back up to a dozen meters in height, gliding towards Rukia's position before landing next to her with a graceful landing, emitting a small gust of wind in her wake.

"Are you alright, Rukia-chan?" Senna asked with concern, knowing she's said this time and again for the past four weeks, but knew it was always sincere. She rested her hands on the release flaps of the armor, quickly unlatching the bulky prosthetic handicap from her, causing it to unfold and collapse around her, allowing her to be free from its constraints...as well as emit a nautious odor of her sweat-soaked body, "omigosh, you're soaked like a sponge!"

"And I smell like a skunk..." Rukia said dejectedly, her head hung down in comical depression and shame. "I might as well have dived straight into a cesspool..." She slowly allowed herself to stand up, her fingers burying themselves within her hair. "I didn't think it was possible for someone to be able to drown in their own sweat, but I just might be the first!"

"Here," Senna reached into her coat, withdrawing a tiny cube with light blue and indigo coloration all over it, "let me get something for you to bathe in."

SFT-WHRRRRRRRR-THOOM!

With a clicke of a button and sifting of Spiritual Energy into an exposed port within the six inch cube, a bright light emanated in the form of blue energy. Within mere seconds, a pool had formed underneath Rukia, steaming with generously temperate waters that would relax her muscles and rejuvenate her body. That, and it would wash the stink off her body that Senna desperately plugged her nose during the process until the highly soothing scent of the steaming waters emerged to wash away the unseemly odiferous fumes.

"There we go," Senna said in a soothing tone, smiling gently, "you should feel better in no time, Rukia-chan."

"Ah--!"

Splash!

Rukia let out a yelp as she fell into the pool involuntarily, the cool sensation hitting her like a ton of bricks. She shut her eyes and held her breath as she was submersed in the liquid. However, she opened her eyes in surprise when she felt her tense muscles relax and energy sweeping back into her body. She raised her hands so that she could look at them, working her fingers. What exactly was this particular chemical? It certainly wasn't anything she had been introduced to...

She pushed herself up, tilting her head back and taking in a deep breath the fresh air as she surfaced. "Amazing...!" She said in amazement, looking around at the water she was floundering in. "It's almost as if I never even did anything at all!" A small smile crossed her face, and she allowed herself to move to the edge where Senna was sitting. "What is it, exactly?"

"Its a modified, transportable form of the Shihōin Hot Springs that Lady Yoruichi had once used in the past," Senna spoke with innate knowledge, smiling as she twirled some of the pool's edge, marveling at the surprising warmth it possessed without any scalding involved, "I remember bathing in this pool time and again when I was training in Captain Kaien's Physical Training Regiment."

"Must've been quite rigorous for you to have to use these so frequently..." Rukia commented in sympathy, leaning her back against the side of the pool while resting a bent arm on the track material. "What exactly did you have to do?" Inwardly, she was a bit guilty for even thinking that she would die if Senna was put through much worse...

"Oh, something a bit like what you're doing," Senna said nonchalantly as she laid on her back next to the pool, kicking into the air aimlessly, "just at a longer time period and much more intense. Ontop of that, I learned to take other regiments combined with the Physical regiment, eventually making myself more versatile and adaptable in terms of skill. Of the countless men that got accepted into the Sword Squad, only I was deemed worthy of becoming his Deputy Captain," she beamed with a low tone of pride, blushing slightly in her cheeks as she rolled over, leaning on her side as she propped her chin up with her knuckles, "though from what I heard, its nothing in comparison of what you've accomplished in all your years."

A light scoff escaped Rukia's lips, and she turned her head away from Senna. "Don't make it sound like I've done anything important..." She insisted. "All I did was what I was supposed to, nothing more. My time as a Vice-Captain back then, and my time as a representative of Yūrei right now. It's really nothing to brag about..." She scratched the back of her head out of instinct, emphasizing the humility she held towards her position.

"Maybe," Senna said idely, twirling a lock of her bang's hair as she smiled wistfully at her, "but you're the sole person responsible for giving the savior of both the World of the Living and the Soul Society, Ichigo Kurosaki, a chance to become man he was born to be. That has to be special, right?"

Rukia had to remain silent, having to look away from Senna in order to think about it.

A spark of motivation. A close comrade. One of the things that kept him going when the situation was desperate. Rukia had never allowed herself to think about it so deeply before. But now that Senna put it out in the open, it was sticking to her mind. If it wasn't for her, then he would've never became a Shinigami and the hero that he had grown up to be. If it wasn't for her, then he never would have gotten as far as he did. She had essentially served as the key to open his door to ascension... all thanks to her being in the right place at the wrong time. That was worth a great deal than any of her services to Yūrei or the Gotei 13 would've been.

"...yeah... now that you mention it... you're right..." She finally said, looking back at Senna. "I just never thought of it in such a way..."

"When I read your report...or rather, the history between your time with him," Senna began abashedly, an excitement behind her words while a timid bashfullness overcame her visage as she blushed when she talked, "it made me jealous I could never meet such a man like him. Despite all of his limitations and his faults, he managed to overcome them and ascend pass everyone's expectations. All in the name of friendship and the desire to protect the innocent," she looked starrily at Rukia's eyes, as she said in a marveled tone, "I wish I could've been by both you and Ichigo's side, Rukia-chan!"

And this was the one that made Rukia's smile grow a bit wider.

"Oh, if only you knew, Senna..."

On the outside, however, she knew better than to voice that particular thought - especially when Senna still didn't remember anything. Instead, she settled for agreement. "I think he would've liked you, bunny-like hyperactivity and all..." She answered in slight humor, shifting herself so that her arms were resting on the track material. She put her elbows on it, folding her fingers together at a horizontal level with her face. "Though, you two would most likely tend to bicker like siblings most of the time more than anything else..." It was an extremely subtle hint - something to tease her with.

Senna giggled, a subconscious tickle ran up her spine making her wonder if she really had interacted with the orange haired young man in the past. She discarded the thought as it only brought up static in her mind, winking at Rukia as she chuckled, "I'll just have to take your word for it..."

"CANNON BALL!!!!!"

Senna opened her eyes widely as she looked up in the air above the stadium sized arena. Her mouth opened wide with shock as she saw her Captain, now wearing bathing gear for some reason, was diving towards the hot springs head-on with a manical smile.

"Kaien you bas-"

SPLASH, WOOOSH!!!

"-TARD!" Senna screamed, as she was unceremoniously splashed upon as Kaien splashed onto the hot springs, landing smack dot right next to Rukia as he caused a uproar of steaming, rejuvenating water in the air before splattering across the track all around them.

Oh, thank God she remembered to "expect the unexpected".

With a yelp, Rukia immediately submerged herself just before Kaien hit the water, effectively protecting herself from getting splashed. But it wasn't long before she allowed herself to surf back up, fixing an agitated and twitching glare at the frothing waters. "What do you think you're doing?!" She demanded, throwing her fists up in the air. "Don't just dive in whenever you feel like it!!"

PTOOO-FFFFFT!

As soon as Kaien rose from the bottom of the bubbling, frothy hot springs, he sprayed water out of his mouth unceremoniously in the air before shaking his hair side to side, smirking at her, "You're just jealous cause that looked really fun! Besides, I'm your loving mentor who has your best interests at heart," he said while sticking his chin in the air with pride, pointing his thumb at his torso, "so as long as you remember that-"

"IDIOT!"

SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP!

Senna slapped Kaien across the face with her very long, large fan as her hair flapped back and forth in sync with her violent, temper-fueld motions, "You got me WET! Do you realize how I hate getting wet?! DO YOU?! You're so amphibious-loving I wouldn't be surprised if you sprouted gills and went to live in a ocean somewhere!"

"Ow! Hey-ow! Stop-ow! Please-ow! Hold-ow! A-ow! Second-Ow!" Kaien begged his second in command as he was ruthlessly slapped cheek from cheek by the large fan, leaving punishing marks across his face as the comical antics ensued before Rukia's eyes.

And unfortunately, Rukia wasn't one to just stand by and watch while Senna had all the fun.

With another dive underneath the water, she sprouted up behind Kaien and moved her arms to lock him in a full-nelson to hold him in place for Senna to continue beating him up. "Loving mentor or not, you interrupted a good conversation!!" She said, a vein popping on her cheek. "More importantly, why are you in bathing gear?! All you did was sit in the chair and laugh at me as I suffered grueling exercises!! You have no rights here!!"

"RUKIA-OW! Why-ow-y-ow-y-ow-y-ow...?!" He cried out as he was continually pummeled by Senna by the fan, a angry smile broke out on the other girl as the two females proceeded to pummel him for his rude interrupting antics.

After five minutes of this, Senna finally stopped, heaving heavily as she had enough wielding her fan and smoke began to rise off the sides of her weapon of choice, as well as Kaien's face. As soon as the smoke cleared, however, no real scarring was shown on his face let alone a bruise. Only superficial angry red marks showed, and they already began to fade away.

"Alright, sorry I got carried away," Kaien said in a calmer, yet slightly humored tone, still locked in the full nelson by Rukia, "but can I please explain what the final stage of your training is now, Rukia?"

"Ah--!!"

Oh, that's right! Of course in all of his silliness, he was eventually going to bring it up. A flustered look came over her face, and she immediately released him from her clutches. "Y-yes, of course!" She stammered, giving a quick bow as best as she could in apology for her actions. "I should have allowed you the chance to speak earlier. I'm terribly sorry..."

"Sorry Captain, I'm sorry," Senna also bowed in apologies, realizing that Kaien is serious when speaking this way.

"Ahem!" Yuhei then rose out of the hot spring, still clad in his tight wet speedo, unintentionally showing off his well-defined muscular body as he turned around and put his arms behind his back, looking at Rukia with sincere curiosity, "first off, before I go into it, how do you feel Rukia?"

Rukia had to remain silent for a brief moment, her eyes falling on his balanced and muscular form. It was a display of how far his particular training had gotten him, regardless of whether he put himself through it or not. Rukia's face subconsciously blushed, but of course her mind was simply on that. Distracting as it was - and even moreso that he was in a speedo, of all things - it would take a lot more to get her mind off of business.

She pulled a hand up out of the water, resting it on the space between her neck and the shoulder blade. As she worked her neck and shoulders out, she could easily confirm that all tension from the tenacious exercise had disappeared completely. "Well, this hot spring did what it was supposed to..." She said truthfully. "It's like I never even went through the exercise and spent the time in this pool. Any injuries sustained during the exercise are gone completely. Oh--!" That was when a comically curious expression fell on her face, and she looked down at the water. "If I drink a bit of it... I could probably rid myself of any disease I could be unaware of!"

Without waiting for any say from Senna or Kaien, she dunked her hands into the water, brought a handful of it to her face, and started drinking it in the belief in her newly found theory.

Senna cocked her head, her eyes blowing to proportions of dishplates, as she had just thought that Rukia cracked some sort've secret she didn't know about. But then tapped her chin thoughtfully, wondering if something like this happened before...

Sweatdropping, Kaien raised his hands, "Its supposed to increase the body's recovery rate through strenuous excercises as well as bleeding injuries, internal or otherwise. There's not garuntee that olive scented and flavored water is going to do your intestines and cardiovascular system any good..."

When Rukia stopped drinking it, she lowered her hands back into the water and gave a hand-gesturing shrug. "I'm covering all of my bases..." She said casually, before quickly regressing back to her calm and reportive tone. "But, all in all, other than my soaked clothing, I'm all ready to go for the next exercise. After all, chances are that I'll need every once of energy if I want to get over the remaining obstacles, right?"

"Of course, but in order to do so, we needed to start with your first and obvious weakness, Rukia-chan," Kaien raised a forefinger in emphasis as he did so, "your physical stamina and martial hand-to-hand combat prowess was one of your real lacking talents. Within this five week period, your body has increased in its capacity exponantially as well as your skill in martial combat. Now, the next basis we're going to cover is the mastery of your Zanpakuto," he narrowed his eyes as he said the next part, "if I can determine the depth of mastery you have with your Shikai firsthand, then I can conclude whether we're ready to start mastering that fragile Bankai of yours."

"Of course, sir..."

Grasping the edge of the pool, Rukia pulled herself out of the water and brought herself to stand up. As she had predicted, her clothes were drenched in water, which continued to spill out the liquid onto the material. However, it was something that she had expected and prepared a solution for. She closed her eyes and focused on her spiritual energy, extending one of her hands out. Upon her mental command, any moisture that her Soul Reaper garbs had absorbed had escaped from the pores before dissipating into visible vapor. This reaction was a chain that started out from the tip of the extended arm and all the way to the other side. In several seconds, Rukia had used her ability to manipulate the ice element to dry herself off, looking as if she had never jumped into the pool in the first place. After all, water was only melted ice...

After the deed was done, she folded her arms across her chest and stood at attention for more.

Senna's eyes opened wide at seeing the display, as Kaien arched his brow in seeing it, with the former clapping her hands in joy, "Wow! You must have a real deep bond with your Zanpakuto, don't you?!"

"She means to say you must be close to mastering Bankai, have you already begun to manipulate your Zanpakuto's innate elements instinctively," Kaien said with a wave of his hand in a explanatory manner.

A sigh escaped Rukia's lips, and she closed her eyes. ""Close" isn't good enough..." She said solemnly, regarding the two of them with a serious gaze. "If I am unable to complete this exercise, I'll be as ineffective as I was in the fight against Lobo..." A mental wince shot through her head when she remembered the way he had appeared before her, impaling his hand through her stomach as if it was a natural movement. Nevertheless, she continued to speak. "I was lucky - very lucky, in fact, to have faced an opponent capable of chivalry and mercy. But luck won't get me through in the situation where the enemy won't be as merciful. I have to be fully prepared in such an event. That's all there is to it..."

"That is why you need to access your Bankai, Rukia," Kaien spoke with certainty, crossing his arms over his chest, "the last four weeks I put you through some of the most rigorous courses the Physical Regiment can take, at its highest level. Doing this, I've considerably bolstered your Stamina, Zanjutsu, Hakuda, and Spirit Energy control. This will allow your body to be in better shape to handle the tedious task of accessing your Bankai.

"Which brings me to my next question," Kaien asked with a arched brow, tapping his foot rythmitcally, "how long can you maintain your Zanpakuto's manifested form?"

Rukia looked thoughtful, closing her eyes for a moment. "In its Shikai form, I'm able to utilize it for a maximum of twelve hours, at best..." She said truthfully. "But that time is severely limited to minutes whenever I access the Bankai form as of now due to the immense power required to keep it active. Five... or if I'm lucky, ten minutes before I start to break under the pressure."

"Aha! But what if someone else were to maintain your Zanpakuto's manifested form while you work on maintaining your Bankai form and perfecting its techniques? Would you be able to train indefinitely longer and hopefully master it at a much quicker time frame?" Kaien asked, a knowing grin stretched across his nostalgic features, winking at her as he pointed at her.

This was something that took Rukia by surprise. Her closed eyes widened, and she almost balked at the suggestion. "Um...well, yes, but..." She was a bit hesitant to voice her thoughts, as she knew Kaien was trying to get her to realize something... only she wasn't sure what exactly it was. "What exactly are you getting at?" Truth be told, she probably sounded like a moron. But who could blame her for innocent stupidity?

"Rukia, mastering Bankai the old way, which is all fine and dandy, but if I'm to understand correctly you've only been at it for the last couple of years, yes?" Kaien said in a rhetorical fashion, now pacing in front of her as he continued with his lecture, "there is another method, which by the Gotei 13's standards, is a very high-risk use of mastering your Bankai. Mastering it the old way, may as well take five to ten years, which is quite a long time for those in our line of work. Invented by Kisuke Urahara, there was a special device that allowed you to manifest your Zanpakuto's body in the real world and allow you to combat/test it until you've officially mastered your Zanpakuto's true form, the Bankai. However, only two people at the time were able to master it without fatality. Kisuke Urahara, and Ichigo Kurosaki..." He then paused, allowing it to sink in to Rukia before he then got to what he was going to say, "the D.C.O. has developed a method along the same lines as Kisuke Urahara did, basing most of it off his technology in fact. However, this should allow you to master it quicker, but the risk is all the same. Should you fail this part of your training...you will die."

"...I see..."

Rukia regressed back into her calm and solemn demeanor. If it were anyone else, it would certainly be high-risk. But death was something that proved to be so common a risk in her duties that it was the farthest away from her mind at this point. It might as well have been a simple slap on the wrist for her trouble. There was no problem, at all.

"I'll see this through to the very end, Kaien-dono." She spoke quietly. "Death is nothing compared to the feeling of failing the ones near and dear to me." She folded her hands behind her back, giving Kaien a respectful bow. "Rest assured, I will see this through to completion, no matter what."

"That's the spirit, Rukia-chan!" Kaien said in a iconic tone, smiling widely with a meaningful look in his eyes as he looked down at her.

Looking to Senna, he arched a brow as she looked as if she was in a daze. Snapping his fingers, he waved a hand at Senna, "Yoohoo! Anyone home?!"

"Huh?!" Senna's eyes dialated before she blinked a couple of times, holding her head as she looked at the two of them with a inquisitive look of her own, "yes Captain, Rukia-chan?"

"Riiiight," Kaien said with bland tone, before thumbing over his shoulder, "go fetch Bob for Rukia's training!"

"Yessiree!" Senna said in a bubble of delight, skipping away before disappearing within a Flash Step. Within only a few minutes after her departure, Senna came back with a life-size model of a white plaster human body. Minus particular external organs, it perfectly embodied every aspect of what a body would consist of minus color, hair, and a few other details. It looked "sex-less" in a sense, considering it was just a body cast with various lines drawn along the torso with a particular bull's eye at the sternum.

"Rukia-chan," Senna said with a giggle, shoving the life-size doll in front of Rukia, "meet Bob!"

"Uh..." Rukia sweatdropped, breaking out of her serious mood and staring at it with a blank and slightly confused. "Hello, Bob...?" She offered hesitantly, looking over it for a brief moment. Upon the sight of the bull's eye, she squinted her eyes in thought. All she needed was a few seconds of thought before it clicked in her head.

"Let me guess..." She said coolly, taking a few steps back. "You want me to stab "Bob" with my sword right where the bull's eye is, right?"

"That's right! Glad you got it right without explanation, Rukia!" Kaien said with a chuckle, gleaming with a pleased look in his eyes.

Senna however, looked unamused, turning her head around and sticking her tongue at Kaien, "I was joking when I said I didn't know where to stab that damn doll, idiot!"

"Hey now, Senna-chan," Kaien wagged his finger at her, tutting inside his mouth before crossing his arms expectantly across his chest, "this is Rukia's training for real, so let's cut the banter for later and begin."

Sighing, Senna then raised the doll in her hands upright, holding it still for a perfect penetration act for Rukia to preform, "All you need to do is stab the bull's eye on "Bob", and the Zanpakuto will manifest on its own. Don't worry, you'll still have your Zanpakuto's powers, you'll just have to rely on us to maintain your Zanpakuto's body while it's manifested. Once that's accomplished, you'll be able to train to your heart's content at a faster rate with your Zanpakuto. After all, who better to teach you about your Bankai's flaws than your own Zanpakuto, right?"

"Right..."

Drawing in a steadying breath, Rukia gripped the hilt of her sword and drew it in a deliberately slow manner. On the outside, she maintained a calm and serene attitude. On the inside, however, her heart was beating furiously within its chest. This would be the decider of whether she was worthy enough to live or die. She couldn't bring herself to fail when she was so close. She would put forth every bit of her ability into hurtling over this final obstacle and get to the finish line. This would be her defining moment.

With that in mind, she drew her sword back, aimed the tip to the bull's eye, and stabbed it dead-center into the... well... center.

Within moments of being stabbed, the doll began to light up with light and energy of its own. The Zanpakuto Rukia held itself began surging a stream of silver light into the body. After a few moments, the surging halted as Senna herself clasped her hands and created a pair of Kanji seals upon her palms, glowing red and black.

"Bind the Fate of the one who Guides the Warrior to his Destiny! Emblazon us within a Rope that ties Fate in our Hands! Christen thy Blade and Embody the Champion! Sōgu Seiki!"

Within moments, a towering column of Spiritual Power emerged from the white light covered doll, covering its features entirely and creating the perfect host body for Rukia's Zanpakuto. Within a icy wind-covered shockwave, a cold mist arose as a beautiful woman emerged from the mist, snowflakes dancing around her form and a gentle compassionate look embraced her visage.

"Hello, Rukia," Sode no Shirayuki spoke, her voice angelic as her appearance was before her, "it seems you're willing to take the risk in order to fully master my powers, aren't you?"

Senna dropped to her knees before the animated Zanpakuto. Her eyes became starry, and she smiled widely as she could barely utter, "She's...so beautiful...wow..."

"Don't believe I've had to pleasure of seeing her in person before," Kaien said with an approving smile, placing his hands on his hips as he onlooked at the pair at once were one body two parts of the soul now were in seperate bodies...for awhile, at least.

Rukia allowed herself to step back in order to give the spirit room. "That's right..." She said simply. "I've overcome my own doubts and fears. Now it's time I took the final step." There was nothing but sincerity in her words as she spoke to her Zanpakutō, her determination showing itself more than any other emotion she would've had.

Smiling compassionately, the Zanpakutō acknowledged her Soul Reaper master, "I know. You wouldn't have stabbed your sword into this makeshift body otherwise. Now then..."

CLAP-SHIIIINK!

"Shall we begin, Rukia?" Sode no Shirayuki asked, as she clapped her left palm against her fist, causing a sound akin to jingling bells as a white stream of snow flakes and ice formed into a blade as she stretched it out of her palm, as if her hand itself was a sheathe. Now possessing her own form of the sealed weapon she near always garbs as her Soul Reaper's weapon, she readied herself to engage her master for the final test...to see if she would rise to the occasion...or fail utterly.

"Let's."

With that statement, Rukia readied her blade, gripping the hilt tightly in two hands. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration as she settled into a comfortable, defensive stance. She steadied her nerves, for she knew that any slip-up would prove fatal to her and her chances of completion.

Sode no Shirayuki raised her blade to point directly at Rukia, her stance was a semblence of a neutral pose, the ability to shift into combat at any moment. It was also at this time, that Kaien used Flash Step, disappearing from their midst to reappear ontop of the tower with the folding chair, getting out his megaphone. What happened next, made Senna's eyes roll.

"Aaaaaaaaand...FIGHT!"

Sode no Shirayuki took it as a cue, shimmering out of view with a graceful speed only Rukia would recognize. Only a subtle jingling of bells would allow her appearance be known, as she took to Rukia's posterior and slashed out at the ridge where her neck met her spine. A perfect incapacitory slash...should it make contact.

Of course, it didn't - a fact partially helped by listening to those bells.

Woosh!

Rukia bent her head and ducked the blade before whirling around in a reflexive and fluid movement. In that movement, her own blade swung upwards in a swift, diagonal uppercut towards Sode no Shirayuki's chest. Her eyes were narrowed even further now that her body was jumping to adjust to the battle's tempo, the frown becoming prominent on her face as she counter-attacked.

CLANG!

Sode no Shirayuki swung her blade back, blocking the middle of Rukia's blade with the beginning segment of her Zanpakuto's blade near her tsuba. Twisting the blade lithely, she redirected the blade so Rukia's momentum would be pointed in another direction, with a indication to allow her to stumble forwards. It was then, that she initiated a Shikai technique, swinging her blade in a circular movement, causing the ground to light up in a perfect white circle.

Within a instant...the whole ground and sky lite up brightly as it was instaneously frozen into a perfect pillar to the ceiling of the huge stadium. Within moments of its creation, it would shatter and dissipate into thousands of snowflakes, making a beautiful yet deadly indication of the technique's success.

Once again, Rukia managed to act quickly.

With a Flash Step, she evaded the technique as it was initiated, skidding away once she had landed again. One hand and both of her feet dug into the ground - an action that made her grit her teeth slightly. "With the use of my Shikai techniques against me, this might prove to be harder than I anticipated..." She thought to herself, raising herself back up to her feet. "I'll have to pace myself. No getting hasty..."

She boosted off of the ground and raced towards Sode no Shirayuki, her newfound leg speed closing the distance quicker than she would have done otherwise.

Sode no Shirayuki's eyes did in fact widen a fraction as she saw her master move at a higher rate of speed since the last time they made bout. She raised her blade in the nick of time to parry her blade, but also felt the force behind it was undeniably stronger than before, causing her heels to skirt across the ground in the wake of her master's attack.

Acting quickly, Sode no Shirayuki raised her left free hand and blew through the open palm, creating an array of miniaturized freezing particles to form and jettison out towards Rukia's face, intending on gaining some distance from her physically enhanced counterpart.

This was where Rukia let a small smirk cross her face.

Woosh!

With the help of a Flash Step, Rukia was able to leap over Sode no Shirayuki's head in a somersault move. Her sword swung in a decapitating motion while she flipped in mid-air.

"I can't keep up with her...!"

Sode no Shirayuki's realization made her eyes widen with surprise as she barely lifted her blade high enough to intercept the blade's killing edge, but managed to introduce the sharp metalic substance against her neck. As soon as Rukia would land over on Sode no Shirayuki's rear.

Reaching up to touch her neck, feeling the warm blood slowly cool and eventual seal over with her innate ice-creation abilities, she smiled, "You've done well, Rukia," she turned around to face her master and counterpart, raising her blade up in a ready stance, "you have learned what you lacked in terms of physical prowess, and can now keep up with me. But..."

SHINK!

"Is your Shikai prowess better than mine?" She asked rhetorically as she pointed her blade at her direction. Spreading her feet in a graceful arc as she readied herself, she dropped her blade in mere moments what would take the old Rukia seconds to preform. As four stabbing motions created a stream of ice particles to float upwards, Sode no Shirayuki assumed the stance of one of her dances...

"Some no Mai, Hakuren!"

SSSSPRWHOOOOSH!

A tidal pillar of snow rushed towards Rukia's form, intending on rushing and overtaking her, freezing her whole body within an instant.

Clearly, it was a challenge to Rukia... and it was a challenge she was more than willing to take.

She stabbed the ground with a lunging thrust, calling out the name of the technique she used as she did so.

"Daiyon no mai... Juhaku!"

From the tip, a fissure of solid ice raced towards the tidal wave, acting like a rock in the face of a water's tidal wave. Once the wave of ice collided with it, the entire foundation of snow crumbled. The scattered snow fell across the ground. However, the pillar of ice released by the Juhaku technique was racing towards Sode no Shirayuki at an alarming rate, intending on catching her within its freezing midst.

Sode no Shirayuki assumed a calm, composed look on her face despite the alarm she felt within. With a single slash of her Zanpakuto, she created a near instaneous, long-range form Tsukishiro, creating the ice pillar and subsequently stopped the majority of the Juhaku pillar, allowing her to skirt out of range without even needing a high-speed technique.

She then proceeded to blow across her hand, repeatedly sending out large ice projectiles to hit Rukia, intending on freezing or incapacitating her for a up-close confrontation.

Woosh!

Rukia's speed was put to the test.

When the ice projectiles came out, she put her Flash Step to good use. Her figured disappeared and re-appeared, weaving in and out of the projectiles. With each and every Flash Step used, she was getting closer and closer to her target. Every muscle was tensed with anticipation as she moved bit by bit towards Sode no Shirayuki, like a soldier making way through a minefield.

Then, when she was close enough, she landed on a piece of ice that was in the process of flying under her feet, crouched for a brief second, and boosted off of it to close the distance between her and her opponent. With her sword hilt held in both hands, she swung down on Sode no Shirayuki's head with all of the force she could muster.

Sode no Shirayuki raised her own blade to block against Rukia's attack, surprised she couldn't even land a grazing shot against her formerly physically average master. The sheer force inserted by her attack was enough to send the Zanpakuto spirit to her knees, and cause an alarming set of webbed cracks along her blade. The howling wind and ice storm that was created around them was a dramatic white screen effect, enough to temporarily block both Kaien and Senna's view, the latter covering her eyes as she was the nearest to the battle.

Within the Exodus of the clash, Sode no Shirayuki was seen backpedaling away as a defined CRACK sound was heard, showing her Shikai to be shattered in half with the edge plunged in the frozen soil around Rukia and a light wound spreading across the Zanpakuto's chest and garments. Within moments, it began to freeze and cauterize it, allowing her to ignore the pain and injury inflicted upon her person.

"You're proving to be a worthy successor of the full power of my power, Rukia," she said in a admiring, soft tone as she raised back up onto her feet, holding her half-blade's hilt on her right hand, "I'm very proud...to be a part of your soul and to be your blade."

The momentary retreat was enough to make Rukia lax a little, her sword lowered for the time being. It made her smile a little. "I thank you for the words of praise..." She answered back sincerely. "But I can't be deemed worthy to wield you until I can truly prove myself, and my trial is far from over..." She knew that from the words spoken that Sode no Shirayuki was done testing her. So she drew in a breath and raised her sword up again, readying it with a foreboding click of the hilt.

"But of course," she smiled as she raised her blade skywards, ice particles formed across the empty space where her blade was, regenerating it indefinitely back to its former size, "any successor worthy enough may not be entirely ready. We shall now enter the final test of your worth, Rukia Kuchiki!"

With a spiraling blast of blue-white energy from her being, a howling wind swirled around, creating snow and ice particles everywhere it went, cascading across the track and grass of the stadium that hadn't been touched by their battle.

"Bankai," she uttered aloud, her body enveloping in a conical cocoon of snow and spiritual energy, creating a near icicle twister in her wake. Within moments, it shattered into millions of snowflakes, illuminating the Zanpakuto's true form as she was revealed.

"Shall we end this test already," a younger, more femininely pronounced voice spoke as the once well kempt, mannered woman now appeared near Rukia's age, with short hair that was done in a ceremonial bun with stylized pins holding it in place. Her gown's sleeve's were shorter, her skirt was now more akin to a kami skirt than a ceremonial yukata one she once wore. Wrapped around her waist protruded a vivid purple tassel that freely cascaded around her in the wake of the icy wind that she created. More profoundly was that her Zanpakuto's hilt butt gained a purple crescent moon, and her facial features were more rounded and less angular, with the same gentle eyes with a peircing stare along with the same lipstick. She almost looked like Rukia in a sense...with the exception of a pair of beautifully crafted hollow-spaced ice wings protruding from her back, showing her full control of her frozen water properties to a physical extent as well, "Rukia?"

Rukia's eyes narrowed with a piercing stare of her own as she looked over the form of the Bankai. It was tense enough considering the power of the Bankai itself. But the fact that she was a near-mirror reflection of Rukia presented a rather surreal feeling to the situation at hand. She forgot the training ground all around them, the fact that Senna and Kaien were watching them both. From here on out, they were in their own world, a figurative dimension in which no one else could roam but the two of them. It was a perfect setting.

"Let's..."

She spread her feet apart and poised the blade tip to aim towards the spirit - the stance she usually used when utilizing the Hakuren technique. She took in a deep breath, steadying the nerves that had been rattled throughout the entire ordeal. Anticipation and apprehension filled her very being, itching for her to leap into action once again. It would be a tough fight... but she would make it through.

The UnderDogs, How the other half live
While all seemed to be going under way and the Soul Society enjoyed a state of perpetual, blissful if not dangerous ignorance, the Inner Circle has been moving. It has only been a handful of hours since Yashin and Daigomi's combined efforts in destroying the Black Blood Sect, the only other compilation of the Underworld's most dangerous criminal organizations that could threaten to undermine the Circle's plans, have failed. At least, upon the surface...

While the majority of the details remain sketchy, prone due to the illusive nature for which Yashin proceeded with his plans within the Inner Circle, it was heard that a great many footsoldiers under Yashin's personal command perished, though no one knows if they were officially part of the Circle's militia or simply hired guns donning their uniforms for easy money.

Regardless, a certain white labcoat garbed man with a clipboard in hand tapped his pen against it in thought, as he began walking down a corridor down the hall. The location of his particular citadel is remote as well as unknown. Some of the lower ranked members don't even know where its located save for drop-off and pick-up points where they are transported to and fro from said headquarters. All that is known is that its near the "backdoor" of the Seireitei's Soul Society...just beyond the lush forests that border its lands and touching the mountains.

The man caught sight of a particular collegue of his as he passed by, seeing the individual stride into the mess hall. The orange haired man, known as Choku Kanshin, narrowed his eyes at him before following. Inwardly he felt the pangs of hunger clutch at his gullet, he wanted to inquire of this man's status and how his last mission went.

"Tenshina-san," he said respectfully, raising his hand as he tucked his clipboard under his left arm as he waved out to him, "a moment of your time?"

"Hm?"

Bokujin Tenshina stopped in his tracks before he could get in line, a look of surprise crossing his face when he heard the voice. Without hesitation, he allowed himself to turn around and face the one that had called him, a curious look on his face. "Uh, me?" He asked rhetorically, his tone expressing slight confusion. "Well..." After a moment, he gave a light shrug, walking towards Choku in a nonchalant manner. "Sure, I guess. I've got time..."

"I've just recieved the usual stonewall report about one of our illustriously illusive superiors making a raid against one of our...competetive opponents," he said with a humored smile as he began talking animatedly, using his quill-holding hand in sync with his other hand albeit a little more restricted than the prior, "I just heard you got back from a mission yourself. Did you happen to...overhear anything about something unrelated to your mission details or how they might be connected?"

It earned a light sigh from Tenshina, and he folded his arms across his chest. "C'mon, man..." He said, his tone slightly complaining. "You know I really don't have the patience for paying attention to whatever the bosses have to say. After all, if you have to overhear it, it probably means you weren't meant to hear it, and if you were... then that means trouble. Why do you ask?" At the end of the sentence, his tone picked up a curious edge, and he tilted his head to the side to look at him with that very emotion.

"We may not be as low as the common foot soldier or measly spy, but we aren't appropiately named Dogs for no reason," Choku said pointedly, using his thumb and middle finger to press his glasses up the bridge of his nose, light flickering off its surface for a moment before his narrowed eyes looked to Tenshina, "sooner or later, if we get sloppy or we become too good for their liking, we'll either disappear or be publically executed."

He then turned around Tenshina, subconsciously leading him along with him as he moved in line to get a tray, stacking an assortment of foods ranging from all sorts of healthy food groups to a few dessert selections, "Unlike you, I have to pay attention in order to do my job. Of all the things I've been seeing lately is that the Inner Circle is going to become the next world power. I don't know if its possible, but maybe if they achieve that...what use do they have for the underdogs like us? I'm just saying...sooner or later, our warranty will expire just like some of this artificial crap they serve us here..."

"World power?"

A frown came over Tenshina's face as he listened to the other man's words closely while making sure that he was right behind him in the line. "I don't know..." He said skeptically, cocking a slight eyebrow. "I mean... I trust you've got good judgment, but that just seems like you're jumping the gun a little. I mean, the Inner Circle is a private military company with mercenaries that participate in operations for money. We kill, we capture this intelligence, we overthrow a crime boss... that sort of thing. And we get paid for it handsomely. In the case that our "warranty" expires, the worst that could happen is us being out of a job."

He gave a light shrug. "But, with the money we make beforehand, it'd be pretty easy to live before we'll have to get another one, right?"

"No no no!" Choku exclaimed as he shook a packaged, processed brownie in emphasis as he turned to look Tenshina in the face, waving the plastic-wrapped dessert in front of him, "you're too soft in the head to see what's going on! They want us to think that they're just a private mercenary, intelligence, competetive organization. They are so much more than that! Don't you see?!"

Tenshina rolled his eyes. "All right, Mr. Conspiracy." He said sarcastically, snatching a medium bag of potato chips as well as a packaged and microwaved angus burger, placing them on his tray while keeping a slightly unimpressed gaze in Choku's direction. "You got any proof to back up that claim of yours?"

"Ohohoho, I have plenty of circumstantial evidence, my narrow-minded friend," he said in a eccentric, if not maddening tone, only halted by a slightly depressed look as he admitted, "however, I have yet to find some solid proof of what my eyes have seen is real. But I assure you," he slapped his brownie onto his tray as he walked towards an empty table, "I will have proof for you so you can see the inevitability that awaits us all UnderDogs!"

"Forgive me if I withold my enthusiasm..." Tenshina sniffed, albeit following him to the empty table. Although disbelieving, this was something that was proving interesting to him. He wanted to hear more on what Choku had to say on the situation. So he made it a necessity to learn as much as he could about it. Who knew? Maybe the guy was right...

"You are quite forgiven."

Abruptly, his eyes snapped to attention towards the figure of Kameyo Takaki, who was calmly approaching the two and looking over them with an occupied food tray in her hands and a near-blank gaze. For Tenshina, it was something that he was used to seeing. "I apologize if I'm intruding on anything..." She said coolly. "But the majority of the tables are full. Can I sit with you two?"

"If my insane accusations don't disturb you, then by all means, Kame-chan," Choku said in a semi-sarcastic tone, putting his hands up in quotations marks before filing his quill pen away on the edge of his right ear, unwrapping the various foods he selected from earlier, "I'm just glad I have some willing companions to at least humor my curiously conspicuous discoveries..."

"Conspicuous discoveries...?" Kameyo blinked. "Insane accusations? What exactly could you be referring to, Kanshin-san?"

"He thinks he's uncovered some big conspiracy..." Tenshina said coolly, approaching the table before sitting down on it. With calm but eager hands, he pried apart the seal that opened up the bag of potato chips and dug in to grab a few. "The Inner Circle's apparently plotting to take over the world and give the dogs a message stating "You have outlived your usefulness". Doesn't that sound like a bit of an overanalysis and overreaction?"

Kameyo remained silent, a thoughtful look on her face as she sat down at the table beside Choku.

As Choku sideglanced the silent Kameyo in the wake of the query Bokujin stated, he unwrapped his BLT sandwitch and took a small bite, quickly swallowing it as he spoke lowly in analysis, "Correct me if I'm wrong, Kame-chan, but that foreboding silence seems to indicate you're not wholeheartedly agreeing with our disturbingly nonchalant fellow man. Isn't that right?"

"Well, if one takes it into account..."

As Kameyo explained, she shifted one leg over the other in the seat that she was sitting in. She picked up what appeared to be a burger of her own in both of her hands, keeping her eyes on both of them. "Inner Circle mercenaries have been given training similar to that of more elite military organizations world-wide. Tactical armaments range from Kidō assault rifles to powerful weapons such as anti-shield artillery cannons. If one looks at it from the psychological point of our view, most of our superiors carry themselves in a dominating, commanding manner - a personality akin to potential seekers of an empire. This could be due to the simple desire for discipline and to root out the runts of the litter. But the chance of an attempted dictatorship by the Inner Circle is not too far away."

"You can't seriously believe that a group of mercenaries, affiliated with whoever pays them, would make a good army." Tenshina argued, a frown forming on his face as he popped a few chips into his mouth. "A good army requires loyalty, devotion to the cause!"

"How is our relationship with Brina-sama?"

That rendered him silent - an indicator for Kameyo to explain further. "We both would put our lives for her in the extent that it proves necessary. Though we are simply mercenaries, we do not have to be disloyal and independent of our leaders. Loyalty may not be as uncommon as you think it would be." After this, she turned her attention to her burger and took a bite.

"If you think about it, a lot of private mercenary corps and organizations back home tend to have a very dictatorship viewpoint in where they operate. Some of them end up being part of small empires created in Africa or the Middle East, while others get absorbed into Asia and the like," Choku pointed out, speaking of home as in the World of the Living where a good majority with present company not excluded, "so what's to say our ethereal superiors aren't in it for domination and power? You have to admit they never really explained their long term goals to any of us..."

The more that they spoke about it, the more it seemed to make sense.

"Well..." Tenshina frowned, looking a bit helpless at the logical statements. He knew he should've done his research, damn it! "For one..." He began, hesitating at finding a good starting point. "For one, Brina doesn't seem like the type. She's friendly, sociable, and will even play a few video games with me and Kameyo from time to time. For a dictator, that would be an extreme lot of freedom for us to have. A dictator would be the straight-up, asshole type of person that would barely let us do anything without permission. How can you explain that particular phenomenon?"

"Or she could be putting up a convincingly decieving act to keep men in good spirits and none the wiser," Choku countered, waving his finger back and forth as he chewed and swallowed another bite of his BLT sandwitch, "face it, she's the most visibly appealing superior we have. The others are conspicuous, creepy, if not incredibly dangerous to lock eye contact with. Maybe she's only a commander for the very reason the rest of us like her? To keep people from thinking we're a bunch of tools for a evil-purposed organization! Not that I have trouble with the work...but I know when I'm being played over being utilized for my services, and I'm telling you, its looking more and more like the prior than the latter with all this information stonewalling I've been receiving from command."

"That's a little bit extreme even for an act..." Tenshina was quick to regress back into his skeptical attitude. He took a sip from the bottle of cold, green tea. As he spoke, he saw himself making emphasizing gestures with one of his hands. "She may be the co-commander of the Tactical Infiltration Company, but she's just far too lenient on us for it to be anything but genuine. The risk of softening us up would be too high. Besides that, I really doubt that she would be a co-commander just for the sake of being the Inner Circle's morality pet. If it is, it's only a partial reason. For crying out loud, these are the same guys who emphasize the elite fighters over anything else!"

"We're not softened up, however..." Kameyo chose this moment to speak again, diverting her gaze from her sandwich to her colleagues. "We are still quite capable of active combat and direct engagement of targets should the time call for it. But even if she wasn't, it would be quite a gamble in the face of our enemies, as it can promote weakness and emotional instability."

"Augh!!" Tenshina briefly tilted back his head to let out a groan of annoyance, not liking his logic being picked apart as Kameyo had allowed herself to do. "All right, all right, let's say you're actually right about this and that the Inner Circle's eventually going to initiate the takeover of the world. There wouldn't be a reason of telling us this if you didn't want us to do anything about it..."

"I'm just saying to be aware about this," Choku said nonchalantly, tapping a toothpick against his juice box he grabbed, pointing it at Bokujin and Kameyo, "for when that day comes, I want us all to be prepared to split and take what we can and give nothing back!"

"...that's to say if we can get away at all..." Tenshina's tone fell to express a drier and slightly deadpan mood. "In that event, do you really think they would allow anyone even a hint about their existence just walk away scot-free? They've got agents everywhere, and I mean--" He set down his bag, using both hands to motion the emphasis. "--everywhere! They might as well be the fucking C.I.A. of the Soul Society. You eat, you drink, you take a leak, they're going to know when, where, and how you did it to the smallest detail. You'd have better luck staying."

"You sound as if you're starting to agree with Kanshin-san, Tenshina-kun." Kameyo commented coolly.

"Ah--!!" That caused him to balk immediately, recoiling as if he had been slapped in the face. It lasted only a brief moment, before he placed both palms to his face in both realization and embarrassment. "Judas Priest, you're right. Choku, stop influencing me!!"

Sluuuuurp!

"Ahhhh," Choku said with a enthused sigh, before smirking with amusement at Bokujin, using his forefingers to press the glasses up the bridge of his nose, "I'm just an inquirer wanting to know the true nature of one's employer and seeking to enlighten my fellow compatriots. Whether you make yourself believe what I say, or bring up facts you've taken in blissful ignorance from your narrow-minded subconscious...is not mine to be faulted for."

"Would you stop calling me that?" Tenshina complained, his voice slightly whining now. "I am not narrow minded! Just because you happen to study more on this doesn't make you a complete genius and all-knowing. Besides, you said it yourself: you don't have any concrete evidence to show us. This is just about as much speculation as any of my or Kameyo's guesses. You don't have the tools to pull a Sherlock Holmes on us just yet."

"Yet!" Choku countered, pointing to Bokujin with a wry smile, before further slurping down his juice, sighing with relief and enjoyment before continuing, "but I will have it in no time. Make no mistake...I'll find out our benefacting superiors' dirty little secret..."

TAP-TAP-TAP...

"Dirty little secret, eh?" The menacing, yet previously undected presence of Fuhai Yoku himself spoke aloud, right at the corner of the table tapping what looked like a butter knife from the cafeteria on the surface. He smiled a playful, yet underlying creepy grin as he asked in a soft tone, "whose dirty little secret are we talking about here?"

"Fuhai," Choku said in a low hiss, sideglancing him with narrowed eyes and a heated glare. His presence was definitely unwelcome, as he had a tendency to antagonize the Fullbringer-lot of the designatedly ranked Dogs, as he was a spirit and had a problem with humans in general.

His presence did not fare well for Tenshina, either.

Immediately, his body stiffened up and froze upon feeling the spiritual signature suddenly make itself known within his senses. He absolutely hated when people did that normally. But it was taken up to eleven when Fuhai had did it. The man's creepiness, visually and in his mannerisms, was not something he would ever get used to. He might've overlooked it if not for the fact that he liked to jeer the Fullbringers of the Inner Circle as an apparent hobby of his. By now, he had gotten sick of being nice.

But before he could say anything, Kameyo allowed herself to cut in.

"Yoku-san..." She was the only one to regard him with a cool and collected gaze, looking over at him after finishing another bite of her sandwich. "There is no dirty little secret here that anyone has. We are simply sharing speculations, nothing more. You needn't trouble yourself."

"Ah, Kame-san," Fuhai stated, his tone becoming slightly more pleasant, if not just a little, and a bit more hospitable when he spotted the dark haired girl. With a slight incline of his head, "I thank you for the clarification, but really...when I go out of my way to do something," he smiled a little wider as his eyes locked onto Bokujin's face, a slight haze of bloodlust ferreted towards the restrained man, "I'm far from merely troubling myself."

"Then what are you here for, Fuhai?" Choku asked in a sneering tone, pressing his glasses up in a challenging, questioning glance as his glasses flickered with a glare towards him, "if nothing else but to harass us, there are dozens of other tables for you to choose. And I'm sure your partner would be dying for your attention as well..."

A mix of emotions stirred in Tenshina, and he bit his bottom lip in an unconscious display of discomfort and disgust. His eyebrows furrowed, and his teeth was close to drawing blood from his lip. But he knew he had to keep his cool. This was someone who fed straight off of his rage and was more than willing to use it against him if he went berserk. But it was far from his mindset on being nice to the one who was so adamant on taking the role as a high-school bully. So, he opted for verbal retaliation.

"Yeah..." He spoke vehemently. "We're really not in the mood for your shit right now, Yoku. Come to think of it, we're never in the mood for your shit. We're just here to eat and do our jobs. We don't need you making things any harder for us."

"Ahaha!~" Fuhai laughed in a too-sweet musical tone, leaning on the table while merely a foot away from his face while he twirled a bang mockingly as he gleamed with a evil intent, "awwwww, am I getting on your nerves? Can't cut the real jobs cause your stamina is low? See...you don't know it, but your little human body just can't cut it in comparison to the bodies us spirits have. IN fact, I think it just might be you, cause I don't see Kame-san over here whining about her worries, now do we?"

Choku began tapping his straw against his juice box, his eyes glaring behind the light that veiled his irises, maintaining his cool but also figuring of ways to step in and deal with him should things go south. After all, he's dealt with him before...though that was a far more unpleasant time during his career as a freelance mercenary contracted under the Inner Circle.

Tenshina gritted his teeth, glowering at Fuhai and clawing at the table in an instinctive display of anger. "Look, Foobar..." He snarled, his lip curling slightly. "My last mission had me tango one-on-one with a Captain-class opponent by myself, while my team dealt with containing the situation. I've got plenty of power and stamina to keep up with the ones like you! But yeah, you are getting on my nerves, and I'm just about ready to use this table as a slingshot and send your lipstick-wearin' ass flying out of this mess hall!!"

Here was where Kameyo's eyes narrowed in warning, though she was sure Tenshina wouldn't see it. "Tenshina-kun..."

Smiling widely to the point of where his teeth flashed in a canine display while his irises glowed in a menacing, challenging hue, maintaining his pose, "Is that a threat...Ten-Ten?"

"No..."

SPRAAACK-SHINK!

"...its a ultimatum," Choku said cooly, extracting his quill pen from the corner of his ear and swiftly transformed it within a glow of bright light blue light into its sword form, the edge poking Fuhai's spine, "you either get off the table we're eating at and walk away, or continue jestering and threatening us, see what happens when you rattle the cage of snarling Dogs."

"Choku-kun," Not turning his gaze away from Tenshina, scratching the table with a faint hissing sound of sparks being emitted from his finger tips, "you should know me better than this...going around pointing that thing at people will give people the indication...you want a fight to the death."

"Why is he still staring at me?!"

However, the fact that Choku had made a threatening move towards Fuhai, Tenshina snapped out of his anger quickly. "Wait a minute, Choku, put that thing away!" He insisted, raising a hand out in a signal to stop. "Yes, he's pissing us off, but a fight is just what the guy wants, and I do not prefer to give the ones I hate what they're looking for!"

"Even though I would love to beat the shit out of this guy..." He added mentally, as an afterthought.

"Yes, this is quite unprofessional." Kameyo closed her eyes, propping her elbows on the table and folding her fingers together. "If you keep it up, you're going to draw quite a crowd. We are not the only ones in this mess hall, after all..."

"Yes, quite," Choku said in agreement to Kameyo and Bokujin's statement, his glare now apparent past the light's shine off the lenses of his glasses, "but think of this as a safety buffer in the event this mad dog doesn't want to back down."

"I've always enjoyed crowds," Fuhai said, raising his finger towards Bokujin's forehead, as slight spark of energy began dancing on his finger tip and along the airspace, all the way to the edge of his skin, "when I'm about to execute useless worms such as you-"

"I think that's enough," an eerily calm voice called out, as a average height black haired girl of awe-inspiring pale skinned beauty, wearing just a normal school-uniform-akin attire with a tray in one hand and a hand held aloft by her side. But with the way she spoke, and the tone of confidence so tranquil yet so deadly known, might have well been holding a hand cannon in her free hand to emphasize the gesture, "Yoku-san."

"Why?" Fuhai looked over with a bored look at her, his previously bloodthirsty grin regressed into annoyance while keeping his finger and the unsettling flow of static-like energy flowing between his finger tip and Bokujin's forehead, "can't you see I'm in the middle of some-GNK!"

Yūyo however did not have the restraint nor patience the others at the table had. Without any warning, Yūyo grasped the collar of Fuhai's jacket and yanked him off the table with ease and undeniably fiercesome strength, pulling him over her body and slamming him onto the ground with an audible crack.

"Because I said so, Fuhai-baka," Yūyo said with a cool look, the grace she employed not even rattling her tray from what she just done, casting a indifferent stare down at him as if she was annoyed at having to preform the maneuver rather than being angry or glad from its employment, "understand?"

"Oh, thank God..."

The move to subdue Fuhai instantly relieved Tenshina of his emotions. He sighed heavily, his shoulders drooping and his expression changing to one of his relief and gratitude. Not only did he have to fight his urges to openly attack the man, he also had to suppress the anxiety and discomfort created from the fact that he had been stared at the whole time, like a fresh piece of meat. It was not a comfortable feeling.

Kameyo blinked in surprise at the other woman's appearance, slowly allowing herself to stand and look upon the somewhat comical scene of Fuhai laying on the ground - to her, at least. "Thank you for coming to subdue your partner, Hakumei-san." She said sincerely, giving a slow nod of appreciation towards the other girl. "Any other outside help most likely would've resulted in violence..."

Yūyo looked over Kameyo with a neutral disposition, nodding to her as she spoke in her usual nonchalant tone, "Don't worry...we may work with each other from time to time, but he is certainly no partner or equal of mine. I mainly did that out of principle," she looked over, continuing to speak aloud as a angry glaring Fuhai got back onto his feet, "to remind others that there is so much barking to be tolerated before one's throat is slit."

"Damn you, Hakumei," Fuhai snarled out, emphasizing his anger at the moment, "I should kill you for laying a finger on me!"

"Killing me is far beyond your reach, Fuhai-baka, as well as beyond your place," Yūyo emphasized with a wave of her hand around the room, "should you kill me, there will be reprocussions you know will be thoroughly carried out upon yourself. You understand, don't you?"

Choku dematerialized his blade back into a Quill pen as he saw the situation play out favorably, placing it back into the recess between his right ear and his temple. The Fullbringer was now just curious to watch the obvious tale-tell signs each of them exchanged between each other, fascinated by the history the two shared with just a simple encounter.

"Yeah..." The scowl returned to Tenshina's face, and he fixed an angry glare at Fuhai. "You'd better think before you decide to goad us in the midst of a crowd. I'm no tactician, but even I know that's the dumbest thing anyone with a sense of self-preservation could do. You wouldn't want to tick off your master, would you?"

Fuhai glared at Tenshina, looking at him as if he'd outright try and attack him on the spot. But before he could even as twitch, a voice broke the air followed by steady footsteps entering the cafeteria, drawing all eyes onto the new arrival...

"For crying out loud! I'm gone over a week and this is what I come home to? Fuhai, my man," A thinly smiling man with a white high collar coat and a dark red pair of pants with a black shirt underneath walked in, his hands instinctively in his pockets, "you sure get bored, don't you?"

"Jadoku-kun!" Fuhai said with a wide smile appropiately alleviating any hostility he had earlier. Walking over to the other man, he clasped his hands in a comradery show of manly affection, both of them locking dangerous glints within their eyes towards each other before releasing their hands and standing off a few meters from each other, "I didn't hear anything in the reports...how did it go?"

"It was nothing short of slaughter," Jadoku said with a lick across his lips, "so it was nothing short of the usual, Fuhai-san," he then looked at the dent in the floor that looked shapely like Fuhai's backside, looking up with a arched brow and a smirk, "messing around when Hakumei-chan is watching? You sure are reckless..."

"It was the meat's fault for acting like its worth something," Fuhai said in a feigned shrug of ignorance of what happened to him, jerking his head towards Tenshina's direction, "so naturally I was going to cut it to size..."

"Is that right?" Fuhai asked with a smile, raising his brow with curiosity, walking past his partner towards Bokujin's direction, stopping appropiately a good two meters away...a much greater distance than his partner's rude interjection upon his personal space, "is that what happened, Tenshina-dono?"

Choku pulled a look of surprise. Though he hardly ever interacted with Fuhai's new partner, he heard that he was nothing short of bloodthirsty and crazy on his missions, though he never saw him socialize with anyone else. To see him act respectably before Tenshina...showed that he had might've exchanged words if not pleasantries with the man beforehand, causing the the former to press his glasses expectantly against the bridge of his nose in anticipation.

On the other hand, Tenshina was not in the mood to exchange pleasantries. However, he drew in another calming breath, his shoulders rising and falling with one motion. Maybe this particular man would be reasonable if he explained what had happened. But considering that they seemed to be partners...

"Your transvestite for a friend tried to goad me... or us, rather, into a fight." He said, his tone showing that he was still peeved at the incident. "And he was real close to getting one, had it not been for the intervention of Yuyo. Hence that little butt-marking on the floor." To emphasize, he nodded his head towards the dent that had been created.

If Kameyo herself showed any surprise herself, she didn't let it pass through her calm and serene facade. "The only string of violence that actually happened was Yuyo's subduing move on Fuhai. Other than that, there was no harm done. Though..." She tilted her head to the side, her eyes examining the room around her. "I cannot say the same for the mood of the atmosphere..."

"Yes so I noticed," Jadoku said as he looked at the whole of the mess hall looking their way, smiling at them as they watched, "I could feel the anxiety mounting from a mile away...and I could smell my partner's bloodlust even further still," he looked over at the three of them, "you did no ill to my partner, and any beating he got from Hakumei-sama was probably well deserved, so I have no quarrel with any of you."

As he turned away, he began walking towards a infuriated looking Fuhai, he then warned in halfway of his stride, sideglancing them as he turned his head, "However...if you had been lying to me, I'd know...and I would've let my other partner bite you to death!"

HISSSSSSSSSSS!~

A ominous hissing sound was made, as a previous undetected presence now revealed itself overhead of the ceiling, wrapped around one of the makeshift mess hall's old archaic pillar, its massive form easily dwarfing any boa constricting python back in the World of the Living. Its eyes locked onto them hungrily, hissing out an almost sentient warning to the three.

Yūyo just stared quietly and ominously throughout the whole series of exchanges of conversations and antics, awaiting any need to set her platter down and teach manners to another. Her eyes followed Jadoku's form the whole time, awaiting any indication he would strike...whether it was from his snake or his fists, she would be ready.

A slight growl escaped Tenshina's lips, his body tensing at the sudden sight of the boa snake. However, he was far from intimidated by it. He had fought opponents capable of leveling buildings and disrupting the very atmosphere with their energy. An overgrown snake certainly would not be enough to strike fear through him.

"Whatever..." Was the simple reply, as he turned around and sat back down in his seat. "I'm done with the violence. Please, leave us."

"Yes, please do so," Yūyo spoke in a clear tone of annoyance, narrowing her eyes at Jadoku, finishing firmly, "Now."

"Just making a point, no need to get all riled up here," Jadoku said with an apologetic smile, the large purple scaled snake descending down upon the ground, slithering up and over Jadoku's frame before he began walking away, nodding to Fuhai to follow. With a eery smile, Fuhai winked at the group he first antagonized before smoothing his bangs in a arrogant gesture, walking in step with his partner before talking animatedly with him as they walked down the corridor.

Survival of the Fittest, A Matter of Pride and Honor
"Good riddens," Choku sighed, pressing taking his juice box and crushing its empty hollow space within his hand, "I don't know why we keep such barbarically wild men under the same organization when they can clearly cause more trouble than they're worth...."

"They possess efficiency of our kind..." Kameyo said softly, sliding back into her own chair. "Even though their personalities might not be appreciated, they are still capable operators of the company they belong to. The Inner Circle holds competence over emotional temperance."

"Real glad we aren't like that..." Tenshina grumbled.

"Agreed," Choku said with an appreciative smile, looking at both of them equally, "and I believe that being Fullbringers...no...human helps us bond in a way many of the others cannot. Working as a team, we've not only accomplished much but have become even moreso," raising out his straw, as if it was a sword itself, he said in a chivilarious tone, "we are comrades!"

What was probably expected was a enthusiastic cheer of agreement.

Instead...

"...no." Tenshina gave him a deadpan glare, turning from his food in order to do so. "That was cheesy. This isn't some movie or story about friendship and rainbows. I don't care if it's true or not, that is still the most absolutely corny thing to say!"

Kameyo frowned in a somewhat poutish way, giving Choku a sympathetic look. "I thought it was poetic... somewhat..."

"Have you no sense of honor to the team we have made?!" Choku exclaimed in a surprised, shocked expression, waving his arms in emphasis, "my goodness, you could at least have gone with it instead of just giving me the evil eye or just a bland look...my goodness, one of these days you'll end up as boring as Hakumei-san."

"Oh..." A sarcastic smile crossed Tenshina's face, and he regarded Choku with mock belief. "Really? Maybe I'm just being subtle about it. Or what? Are you expecting to shoot laser beams made out the "bonds of our team" from my eyes and unleash swift friendship upon my enemies? Maybe I'll just name my sword "Friendship" just to emphasize that to the whole world. Or maybe you think I'm capable of pooping rainbows every time I go to the bathroom."

"Well, being able to defecate rainbows would be quite a visual spectacle..." Kameyo suggested innocently. "And for some, it may grow to become a fetish."

SPLURCH!

Tenshina nearly hit Choku with the spit-take of the drink that fell from his mouth. He swiveled his head in Kameyo's direction, his shocked and twitching-eye stare at Kameyo's cool and casual expression. "Wha-I-that-what the--?!" He couldn't bring himself to speak for a good several seconds, rendered speechless by the words that she spoke. However, it didn't last long. "Okay, no. One, that's not even something a woman should be saying. Two... just... no! There are no words to describe how messed up that is!"

Choku deftly raised his platter up as a makeshift shield, sweat-dropping at Bokujin's antics, muttering aloud, "My my, so much for our reserved companion...," lowering down his platter and examining the wrappers that fell off, he began to fold them neatly before putting them back onto his empty platter, "you know, Tenshina-san, this was your fault. Saying things in a provocatively crass manner will often get feedback not to your liking. Receiving momentary humor is far outweighed by the repulsiveness of a equally well-equipped comeback."

"It was not meant as a means of retaliation..." Kameyo said. "Just a simple theoretical guess. Everything in existence will draw some sort of obsession, whether in fantasies or otherwise. What you might find crass, someone else might find to be an aphrodisiac. One's trash is another's treasure." She followed this up with the finishing bites of her burger, swiftly sucking her fingers clean.

"...why did that seem to be philosophical?" Tenshina resumed his deadpan expression, staring at the two of them blankly. "Kameyo, you really have a screwed up way of thinking."

"I will take that as a compliment, considering it's not uncommon for someone to say that to me."

"I think she's got a point," Choku said in a semi-defensive posture as he pointed his straw towards Kameyo, "even if it seems a bit unnatural, there's always something to be learned by another's perspective."

On the far side of the cafeteria, a series of pitter-patterings were heard as a group of individuals rushed to one of the reserved tables. After talking animatedly, the group turned to each before dashing off. Soon, within a few minutes, nearly half of the cafeteria stopped eating and began rushing down the corridor where the excited individuals came from. Eventually, others began to file out of the cafeteria towards the commotion.

"...the hell...?"

This made Tenshina and Kameyo's head crane in curiosity and confusion, with the former voicing his thoughts. However, it was the only words that he allowed to escape his mouth. Slowly, he got up from his seat and stood up, watching as a good majority of the cafeteria was filing out. "Ok... what could possibility be so important that everyone's running out of here like they're in high-school?" He questioned, quirking an eyebrow.

"My intuition tells me if we are to find out, we should follow," Choku said pointedly, pressing on the ridge of his nose, raising his glasses up before standing up and looking at the others with a hint of a smile, "right?"

"Eeyup..." With that being side, Tenshina decided to break into a sprinting jog. "C'mon, we don't want to miss getting a front row seat if we're going!"

Swiftly standing up herself, Kameyo was quick to follow right behind him in an almost soundless manner, her boots treading the ground lightly even as she caught up with him.

Choku began walking methodically alongside Kameyo, letting Bokujin get ahead of them as he began smirking.

"Do you think on of our illustrious superiors is punishing someone publically again, or do you think its going to be a mad brawl out on the garden courtyard again?" Choku mused aloud to Kameyo as they began making their way with the remainder of the cafe's occupants towards the wide open space at the far end of the corridor.

"If it is either of those choices..." Kameyo said coolly. "I would choose the former. I would doubt the professionalism of these mercenaries would allow them to be attracted to something so trivial as a brawl or an unlawful engagement..."

Ahead of them, animated shouts of various sorts and cheers, all of them looking like the crowd was witnessing a spectacle or a competition. With a chuckle, Choku scratched his chin while half-liddedly staring ahead, "Well, I believe that there wouldn't be so much rambunctious cheering if it was the former instead of the latter, don't you think, Kame-chan?"

In response, Kameyo narrowed her eyes. But it was obvious that she acknowledged her own mistake. "What kind of battle and what kind of participants would attract such a large crowd...?" She questioned, a slight frown on her face. It only drove her own curiosity even higher.

Choku began looking to stray passerbyers, with a couple of men talking to each other as they hurried pass them, saying, "I can't believe he challenged him!"

"What can you expect?! A lot of people want to prove they're better than Valeur-san!"

"Valeur is going to take these guys down just like the rest...he's undefeatable!"

"I bet he likes to flaunt that pretty face of his when he does so...what a showboat!"

"If you had skills like he does, wouldn't you want to get some attention?!"

"There it is...the show's about to start!"

"Valeur...Valeur...why does that name sound familiar?" Choku began saying it aloud, looking upwards in thought as he cupped his chin as they methodically and patiently strode towards the crowd that assembled around the garden atrium, a common place for gatherings and contests despite its archaically well preserved beauty. It also, has become as of the late past few years, a good place to do bouts or duels between the more elite men of the Inner Circle's ranks. Reason being, most of the time rookies or amateurs do brawls and the like, they end up tearing up the place and get reprimanded for it. So long as they're not leaving a considerable amount of damage in their wake, they're allowed to use any part of the citadel grounds as they see fit...within reason.

Because Kameyo and Tenshina were moving faster than he was, Kameyo got ahead of Choku and slowed down to a walk beside Tenshina as he skidded to a spot where he could view what was going on.

"Great..." Tenshina muttered dryly, sighing lightly as he folded his arms across his chest. "A couple of guys get together for a little "gentleman's challenge". Wonder how much damage's going to be made this time?" Although it was only the rookies that ended up doing the damage, it still put skepticism that such would be a common occurrence to see.

"If its that unappealing, Tenshina-san, you can always go back and take a nap somewhere," Choku said teasingly as he walked in step beside him, having a perfectly good view of the descended atrium courtyard, where a fountain stood in the center that spout off from a few distinct statues embodying what looked angels, with a stream around it, while a handful of men stood on its left side, staring down with arms crossed or hands on the hips. The opposing side held the declared Valeur, the well defined and well known warrior within their ranks looked at the handful of men with a smile of amusement. It looked like this was going to be fun for him while the others looked like they were going to have a field day getting him on his knees.

"Can you percieve anything of why this is going on, Kame-chan?" Choku asked Kameyo with interest, always appreciating his female companion's opinion over his more provacatively dry toned compatriot.

"From the looks of things..." Kameyo supplied, keeping her eyes on the two sides. "And from the snippets of conversation from what we heard from the watchers, then this said Valeur holds a high amount of prestige. The opposing group wishes to challenge him for the reason of obtaining that very same prestige, if not higher." She leaned over, resting both of her arms on the balcony in order to lean her weight against something as she watched the courtyard down below. "If there's a mass crowd, then this should prove to be quite entertaining."

Although Tenshina was listening - and he really was listening! - he couldn't help but lean back and divert his eyes downward - a less-than-subtle and somewhat comical movement made to ogle Kameyo's backside. "Uh, yeah..." He said dryly, trying to sound like his tone was agreeing with her words and not something else. "Interesting...right..."

"It will most certainly be anything but boring," Choku said with a smile as he pressed his glasses against the bridge of his nose, as the group opposing Valeur began speaking out aloud, silencing the rambunctious chatter to attentive silence and mere whispers.

"You're pretty face is going to be under my boot today, Valeur!" Shouted the head of the group, a man named by Takeshi Suzaku, often seen as a man of tactical worth and success, his group carrying out many dangerous missions with hardly any failures. While it seemed he only brought his lieutenants along with him, he certainly didn't lack for confidence, "your constant passive boasts will no longer ring in these halls! It will be my name, Takeshi Suzaku that will be fit to be sung by all those who bear our titles."

"You sure sound like you know what's what, for a mere alpha male ahead of curs," Valeur spoke with an educated tongue, an amused tone carried across with an equally humored smile, "challenging my honor like this will be one of the last mistakes you'll ever make, Ser Takeshi."

SHIIINK-SPHT!

"Ha! As great in skill you are, there is no way you can be unmarked by my tactical prowess, and physically admired skill!" Takeshi spoke aloud, drawing a katana from his back, causing it to alight with spiritually aligned particles of bright blue flames, marking it as the originated design of a Spirit Weapon. The rest of the men began to unsheathe their own weapons, whether it was mere gauntlets which they alight runes of various sorts, or merely seals that hid away their true martial strength.

So far, Valeur had not moved nor unsheathed the obviously blatant weapons sheathed diagonally on his back. He just stood there with his arms crossed over his muscular armored torso, and his eyes appraising them individually of each of their strengths and weaknesses.

It was here that Tenshina turned his attention away from Kameyo and to the fight at hand.

"Ok, that guy's not even moving?" He said incredulously, moving to lean on the balcony as well. "Somehow, that tells me which way this is going to go. One guy, outnumbered and seemingly outmatched, is standing like he can own them all. We all know where this is going to go."

"Indeed. Only a rookie would underestimate the said Valeur due to the concept of numbers against him..." Kameyo agreed, her eyes still focused on the battle. If anything, she hadn't shown any awareness of Tenshina checking her out. But of course, Brina had taught her personally to be a particularly good assassin with really good senses. Perhaps she simply was more interested in the fight than anything else...\

"I think nothing but respect of Takeshi for his exploits," Choku said admittingly, before he sighed at the spectacle and for what he heard, not having paid explicit attention to his leering comrade, "but his pride sometimes outweighs his common sense and his discernment what not to challenge and what to challenge openly. Now, he merely sees a man mocking him by simply existing. That enough, is making all of his accomplishments pale in comparison of the famed Valeur standing amongst him and his cohorts."

It was then that Valeur looked at his hands, looking like he was checking his nails for dirt, but as he was striking his fingers up one after another, he raised his hand up showing it to the challengers, "Three."

"Three?!" The men behind Takeshi vocalized at once, sweatdropping slightly at the spectacle and single word statement, with the leader growling audibly as he gnashed his teeth towards his opposing challenger.

"If any of you make me fight you longer than three minutes, then you will have earned my respect and I will release half of my true power against you," Valeur spoke with a smile, closing his eyes as he grasped one spear then the other, unsheathing the immaculately designed and shaped weapons strapped to his back, "but until then, this will be nothing but a nice workout...a sparring session for myself. Come then," he slid his left foot behind himself, holding his spears in diagonal directions, one different from the other respectively, a sign of a man who knows how to wield a spear, let alone a pair of them, "let us test your mettle and prove if your pride is a strong as your blade."

"Bastard!" Takeshi snarled out, jettisoning himself from his position, while swiping his blade out in a brilliant arc in front of himself, discharging a blast of flames to rivet the air hotly while not touching the immaculate cobblestone ground below him, "you should know better than to openly goad me!"

However, instead of hitting the intended target, all he hit was a spear stabbed into the ground barely marring its surface, proving its craftmanship was more resilient than it appeared.

"They say fools like to chatter, Ser Takeshi," Valeur spoke, as he held his left hand's spear aloft while his right hand propped on his hip, "keep on speaking if you want everyone here to view you as one when you have barely started this bout!"

WOOSH!

Valeur then seemed to descend upon his opponent in a blur, his body somersaulting in the air indiscernably to the man's eyes with only few in the audience that could catch sight of him, before a foot planted onto the frontside of Takeshi's face, causing him to sprawl backwards and land head over heels past his men, sputtering unintelligibly.

The men looked dazed and slightly confused, before the man with the gauntlets retaliated back, making a few handsigns before slamming his palms outwards, sending burst of electrical power towards Valeur's position. Valeur smiled as he backpedaled a good few steps, stopping only a meter past his planted spear...from which the the incoming stream of electricity seem to divert to and ground into the stone it was stabbed into.

"He used his own weapon as a lightning rod?!" One of the people near Choku and his companions spoke, before exclaiming, "that guy's thinking on his feet two steps ahead of the other guys!"

"He has to..." Kameyo answered readily. "He is outnumbered by a handful. It is only natural that when cornered, a combatant tends to stick with strategy and tact rather than the use of direct combat." Following this, she raised a free hand to idly scratch at her face before returning it to its position on the balcony. "Furthermore, this could be done simply to antagonize the lesser and more emotional combatant into a rage in order to increase that tactical advantage."

The observations made Tenshina chuckle in amusement. "C'mon, Takeshi. Open your hands up and show us some hell..."

While another of the four remaining cohorts took the initiative after the spell was wasted, this one seemed to be garbed with a number of bladed weapons and pockets, suggesting him to be a skill within the designation of a weaponsmaster. Quickly moving his hands, he unlatched the pockets with ease and threw out his hands in a number of precise, carefully aimed gestures, sending a number of projectiles towards the opponent near his spear.

Valeur chuckled, grasping his spear with both hands and began spinning it methodically and gracefully, catching each and every projectile by the tip of his lance, or its posterior butt end. He even grasped a handful of them by the edge of his spear without letting them fall, before letting them loose back at his opponents, causing them to duck and weave out of the way, pock-marking the cobbleston around them.

Takeshi, however, had recovered from the kick that Valeur delivered, a red imprint donned on his previously proud chiseled features, causing him to growl angrily, his blade acting in accordance to his emotions blazed hotly. "You wanted me pissed off, Valeur?! Well that will be one of your last mistakes!" He called out, swinging his blade in a arc within the air towards Valeur.

This time, the flames didn't simply manifest as a wild current of fire, but as a large lion that took a semi-solid form of magma and flames, roaring out as it charged towards Valeur's form with twice the speed and even more power threshold.

Valeur however, charged at the beast, stabbing the cobblestone before himself and vaulted over the superheated aura of the beast as well as its manifested maws and claws from possible physical damage. While halfway past the magically crafted beast, Valeur lifted his spear from the stone in front of its face before arcing it around brilliantly before slashing its backside with a clean sweeping motion. Landing a good few meters away from the construct, it suddenly howled in agony before smoldering into nothing but ashes and flickering tongues of fire, showing a success in disabling the attack.

"Strange," Choku said while massaging his chin as he observed the battle, "he purposely drew both of his spears during the battle, even coming off in a preferred stance of fighting with one in each hand. Yet, he's using only one to deal with each of these attacks or techniques, while leaving the other one firmly planted on the ground. Is he merely using it as a means of defense or makeshift maneuverability...or is he waiting for something?"

It was enough to jar Tenshina's attention a little.

"Oh, right, I didn't notice that little detail..." He muttered, furrowing his eyebrows. "But, hey. We'll find out soon enough, won't we? In any case, if he's waiting for something, Takeshi better move fast..."

"Kill him!" Takeshi yelled out, his eyes grew red with rage, his blade lighting aflame as he readied himself to intervene, "leave nothing of him to look upon!"

One man with well defined muscular physique nodded to the weaponsmaster, both of them making a dash towards Valeur with their weapons bared.

"That's more like it!" Valeur goaded, spinning his spear around as he rushed back towards them. Within a flurry of fists and blades, Valeur began dancing elegantly with his lance, countering parrying and kicking, he moved around them with a grace far beyond the two's combined experience overall.

It was within a simultaneous rush of both opponents that Valeur managed to backflip, slashing one's arm off while slicing the tendons connecting the other man's off causing them both to fall down writhing in pain or unconscious respectively.

"I got you!" The man with the gauntlets cried out, slamming his palms upon the earth, sending a rippling chain reaction, from which runes instaneously materialized underneath Valeur's feet. With a quick side step leap towards the fountain's immense top, he managed to narrowly avoid the golem hand that was created. High above, however, he saw that his main adversary had taken flight...upon a great flamed phoenix construct with his sword held high above him, readying to attack him full on.

Looking around the battlefield, once...twice...three times, Valeur then smiled. He had the perfect plan. Once he locked eyes with the gauntlet man with a smirk, it was all the provacation he needed to attack once more.

"DIE!" The spell weaver shouted, using the earth style technique again, causing the fountain itself to change shape and attempt to crush him as it changed and morphed into a golem-like fist. Valeur surprised him as he utilized the sudden change in height to propel himself up high into the air,

"You fell right into my trap, Aethian mutt!" Takeshi said as he charged his phoenix towards him, even as Valeur gained a slight bit more altitude than he did.

Then, Valeur's eyes shifted to a serious gaze, with no smile at all. The biggest mistake, pitching a battle against a spearman and thinking you have the upperhand...when you didn't consider the ramifications of putting him at a distance...would be Takeshi's last mistake.

WHIZ!

With a swift, blurring motion, Valeur threw his spear towards Takeshi, the versatility used was incredible as it honed in on its target...

WHAM-CRACK!

And shattered the Spirit Weapon at the base of the blade where it met the guard, a common weakpoint in any bladed weapon when struck with incredible penetrative power. The result also caused the flame construct to dissipate instaneously causing Takeshi to start a outcrying free fall...as well as the spear that had been thrown to narrowly, unintentionally strike the spot right in front of Bokujin's lap, with only a meter of space to spare, as its crash landing caused quite a ruckus and splintered the ground it struck.

"HOLY F--!!"

Tenshina was viciously jarred out of his calm demeanor when the spear struck the space in front of him. He reeled back in a comical manner, frozen in a karate pose and staring that the spear as it lay embedded where he stood. "Th... this shit is why I usually don't go to gatherings like this..." He said shakily, one of his eyes twitching repeatedly.

Surprisingly, Kameyo hadn't moved an inch, not phased by the accidental collateral damage that had been done. She was completely focused on the battle, her eyes following both of the fighters as they descended to what appeared to be their demise. Of course, it wasn't that easy...

But Valeur wasn't done there, as he propelled himself towards his target, somersaulting forward with the intention of landing another kick upon Takeshi's face.

Takeshi however, managed to catch the foot and push himself away from Valeur in midflight, still causing the latter to smile as he shadowboxed the man while falling thirty meters from the air downwards.

"You can't beat me, Valeur! You may take down my men, my weapons, my power, but I'll still beat you!" Takeshi yelled out in a manical, outraged tone.

"Amusing," Valeur spoke as he then propelled himself away from Takeshi, causing the man to twitch in surprise, "cause I believe you brought this upon yourself!"

"What are you-"

CRACK-THUMP!

Any protest Takeshi would have was cut short when his body was propelled...right into the path of the erect, planted spear where Valeur planted it right in the beginning of the fight, with his back split and his body outstretched in a instinctive show of shock and anguish. A silent scream emitted from his mouth as his eyes widened bulbously, as his mind blanked out from the pain and the sudden paralysis inflicted upon his body.

With a sudden graceful clap of his boots upon the ground, Valeur looked over to where Takeshi lay limply upon the butto his stationary weapon, "Such is the price the prideful must pay. You may believe your pride can let you destroy a mountain, but my Honor is more powerful than any weapon of your crafting. So long as a man has his Honor, the boasting of the Prideful will never reach me, nor will never touch me."

He then walked over to the unconscious, half dead man, grasping his spear and pulling it with ease from its perch, and let the man's body fall limply onto the ground. Looking to any remaining combatants around him, he gave them a glare of reckoning, "Should any of you try to challenge my Honor again, I will not hold back from utterly annihilating you fools!"

The gauntlet-bearing man shivered with fear, gulping down whatever loyalty and pride he had, he merely ran towards his comrades and helped them up, making sure they all got away with their lives, leaving their dignity far behind.

"Oh, sweet black fucking Sabbath, that is gruesome!"

Tenshina hissed and winced as he lay eyes upon the impalement scene, from where Takeshi had landed on the spear to when Valeur threw him off of it and onto the ground. A vicious shiver went down his spine. "No matter how many times I see it, I'm never going to get used to stuff like that...

"Within that calm and casual facade, he was holding back his own anger and contempt." Kameyo commented. "He was truly aiming to humiliate them and crush any thoughts of victory they had against him. Quite a frightening soul, indeed..."

"Two minutes, seven seconds," Choku muttered aloud, pressing his glasses against the bridge of his nose as he analytically observed how much time it took for the gentleman spearman to take down his opponents, "he didn't even reach very far past two minutes. Can't imagine if there's any single opponent who can take him on in a physical match, one-on-one let alone five against one."

"There probably is..." Tenshina grumbled, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. "We just don't know of it yet. Maybe he or she isn't in the mood to step down and fight in front of all of these people. Maybe he or she doesn't feel like boasting about their abilities. Who knows?"

"You there," Valeur asked Tenshina's twitching form, his body moving within an instant reminiscent to a Flash Step, much faster than he displayed during his bout. He stood before the said man with his other spear in hand, grasping the other before Bokujin's front, pulling it from the cobblestone step he took a seat before the projectile's destination, "I apologize for almost causing your person injury. It'd grieve me if I caught anyone in this unfortunate occurrence over the matter of my Honor, but I'm pleased to see you are unharmed."

"Ah--!"

Still somewhat shaken from nearly having been impaled by the spear, Tenshina shrank back briefly when Valeur reappeared before him. He raised his hands up defensively and reassuringly. "Hey, really, it's no big deal!" He insisted, putting on a mildly weak smile. "As long as you didn't hit me, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

"Fear is unbecoming for a fellow warrior," Valeur said with a arched brow of amusement, before raising his weapons and sheathing them respectively, his eyes closed while speaking, "but alas, in the face of such brutal executions, some of the most veteran of combatants might be if only slightly unnerved. Again, I-"

Valeur's eyes then opened and locked on Kameyo's face, halting his speech for a few seconds. His gaze broke out a slight mesmerized look of astonishment, as if he saw some unknown treasure or discovered something new he hadn't seen before.

"...apologize," he finished his speech, his cheeks tinted with a slight crimson complexion, his awe and mesmerization not being lifted even after finished speaking.

Choku couldn't help but blink, looking back and forth between Kameyo and Valeur, remaining silent with his own personal speculations he gauged to be...awkward, for this situation.

"...keep staring. I might do a trick."

Kameyo's cool and somewhat unimpressed look caused Tenshina to stifle a chuckle as he switched his gaze over towards the two. She had parted from the balcony and took to standing, meeting his eyes with the crimson of her own. A neutral curve was made of her mouth, but he could clearly hear the smirk in her voice as she spoke the deadpan snarker-ish words to Valeur.

Valeur shook out of his daze with those words. With a clearing of his throat, he bowed before Kameyo in a gentleman manner with a forearm under his midriff while the other behind the small of his back, "I apologize, Mademoifelle. I thought I caught a glimmer of perfection in your eyes, so I was stunned for a few moments, forgive my impertinence."

"Smooth as a silk veil," Choku chuckled, trying not to be too obvious for fear of impeaching his Honor and earning the wrath of his more deadly edged weapon than what Takeshi fared.

"Really?"

Kameyo tilted her head to the side briefly and slightly before returning it back to its straight position. "Glad to see such a brutal fighter also's capable of showing chivalry..." She said simply, taking a few steps to approach him. A few steps, in fact, was all it took to close the distance to a point where they could freely use indoor voices and still be heard. She kept his gaze within his the whole time, even as she moved. "But I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm far from perfect. But of course, you might find that out soon enough..."

"Its true, you live within an impure vessel as a human, madame," Valeur shrugged nonchalantly, before smiling sincerely to her, "but you have a spark inside you that far outshines any impurities that dwell upon the surface. That's the true meaning of perfection, after all...the one quality that each entity has within them that outshines the darkness that underlies each of our impure shells."

This time, Tenshina could hear a smile in her voice - as well as see a ghost of it on her face.

"...I think we could get used to a person like you..." She commented after a moment of silence, allowing herself to turn her body away from him. However, her eyes were kept on him. "So it'd be appreciated if you didn't deviate from those expectations, Valeur-san."

"I swear it upon my Honor as a gentleman and a warrior I will stay true to those expectations," Valeur said with a smile, bowing halfway, while smiling at her, "madame."

"With that being said," Choku said as he raised a hand from his coat pocket while keeping the other in said opposing pocket, "do you want to accompany us in finding a good place to talk? None of us has had any summons for another mission yet, so I'm certain we can benefit from your stunning company, Valeur-san."

Valeur smiled, placing a hand on his right hip while looking off to the side in thought, his eyes looking as if they were distant. After a few moments of thought, Valeur raised his eyes back to Choku's and the others, "I accept your offer, Serah."

"...wait a minute. We're friends with a guy with such a high reputation?" Tenshina couldn't help but stare in surprise, shifting his gaze from one person to the other. "Well, I can't complain. Maybe we'll use this guy to get popular. Who knows?" Putting on a small grin, he shrugged lightly. "Sounds good to me! Lead the way, my neighborhood Brainiac!"

"Oh how your compliments rain down on my soul, my skeptical lounging cat," Choku elaborated in a semi-sarcastic tone with a smile on his face, walking down the corridor from whence they came, but with a different destination in mind, leading the way for his two comrades and their new guest.

Valeur chuckled at the antics he witnessed, following their lead while maintaining a favorable viewpoint of Kameyo's face and hair. While normally men would let their gaze linger, Valeur was a man of principle. If one cannot appreciate the woman's innate facial beauty and their hair, then don't trouble your eyes to see anything else. So, as it stood, he kept himself quite occupied chuckling at the random antics of his intriguing new acquaintences as well as keeping his eyes locked on Kameyo's enamoring beauty.

And then Tenshina knew.

"She must've been ignoring it the whole time! She doesn't even seem to care!"

The revelation caused Tenshina to relax, and he almost breathed a sigh of relief as he glanced at the "exchange" between Valeur and Kameyo. He could see that she had glanced at him once to notice that he was doing so, before continuing to look forward. Was she indifferent to it? Or did she actually feel comfortable with him looking at her? With that serene and neutral expression on her face, he couldn't tell. He could only wonder who taught her how to do such a perfect poker face.

"I think I might start liking to socialize with a band of unusual people...once again..."

Valeur thought inside his head as he smiled, feeling nostalgic as he traveled with these people and aimed to forge bonds from them. Who knows? Maybe they'll accept him, or maybe they'll call him friend. In the end...Valeur knew that a man with Honor, is a man who'd use that honor to forge friendships greater than any weapon or technique a entity could concieve. That...is what Valeur believes is the greatest honoring thing to do in this life and the next.

Tread Lightly, Perches of Fire and Teeth
Beyond the halls and commons of this particular fortress the Inner Circle takes refuge and stations their headquarters lies the higher levels reserved for only the Dragons and their masters, the Four Horsemen. Within these halls rose impossibly tall vaulted ceilings, with marble walls and pillars, sculpted nearly a millenia ago and yet so perfectly preserved. Some rooms were of a pure albaster white color, with mixtures of violets and pinks, giving it a mesmerizing beauty, while others had dark, contrasting and shadowy crevices within ever partition of the rooms. Each hall were specifically chosen to meet the particular aesthetic tastes of each particular high-ranking entity that claimed the coveted title of Dragon.

This...is where a more reclusive to the Inner Circle grunts and Dogs, going by the name of the Mist Dragon for his mysterious and well kept identity. This entity currently embelished in a black kimono cloak over a set of dark red and black set of attires, with a mixture of a kosode, kama skirt, leggings, black slippers and long sleeves with a elongated series of pouches holding a variety of tools and miniaturized devices. Being the most "social" of the Dragons besides the comrade he was going to visit, this one was known for having a personality that was constantly evolving and changing before his allies and enemies' eyes.

His name...is...

"You there," the man in question, asking an attendent in front of Brina McTavish's personal hall was, putting his hands in his leggings pockets as he looked at the attendent with a pleasant inquisitive smile, "do you happen to know where I can find McTavish-san? I'm wanting to discuss something with her..."

"She is in her personal monitor control room, sir."

The attendant in question was wearing a green, military-style uniform reminiscent of any foot soldier within the inner circle. On his back was a Kidō assault rifle. He had his hands folded behind his back, looking at the one who approached him with a steel expression on his face. "Shall I lead you to where she is? If you wish to speak with her, she's currently available."

"When you put it like that," Meikurai said with a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head, "I might get lost if I try to find her, so if you would be so kind as to lead me to her please, good man?"

"Of course."

With that being said, the attendant pulled an about-face and walked down the hall, already assured that Meikurai would follow.

The hall itself was a massive corridor, although it only took fifty steps or so in order to reach the end of it despite its twists and turns. They were made of the said alabaster white that had made up some of the rooms and offices within this particular sector. However, at the end of the hall was a rusted door, with a window that had the words "T.I.C. Surveillance HQ" in bold letters. Through the window, artificial light from monitors could be seen.

Pulling out a card from his pocket, the guard inserted it into what looked like a card lock for the door. A small beep sounded in confirmation, allowing the guard to pull out the card and slip it back within his pocket. Automatically, the door itself opened up. The guard moved aside for Meikurai to enter.

The room itself was, of course, a massive surveillance room with several screens active and online. In the center of it was a table with a chair facing away from them. It was occupied by a feminine figure who was leaned over. The sound of tapping on the wood could be heard, as if she was constantly moving something from one spot on the table to another.

This was Brina McTavish, a Dragon of the 1st Horseman.

"Hello there, Brina-san," Meikurai said with a cheerful note, taking a leisurely walk around her surveilance center and admiring the various screens and pieces of elaborate equipment, "I never get tired of seeing this lab...my mobile ones always seem so dull or small in comparison, its a pity I can never re-create one like this on my own."

"Hm?"

Brina abruptly stopped what she was doing and turned her head, a surprised look in her eyes as she swiveled her gaze to him. However, recognition dawned on him, and a cheery smile became present on her face. "Well, if it isn't Shiomaneki-kun!" She said, enthused by his entrance within the room. "Never would've thought that someone would've bothered to come down here just to visit. To what do I owe it?"

On the table lay a map of Aether, listed with cities and exact locations. Some of these locations were marked... but not with pen or pencil... but chess pieces. There were various kinds of them marked, both black and white. Hers was white, while what was presumed to be the other side's was black. Beside the chess-marked map was a remote meant for controlling the screens.

"Honestly, I had nothing better to do," Meikurai shrugged, smiling in a evasive characteristic manner, before walking over to the said table, cocking his head and bending his back here and there to look inquisitively at the chess pieces. Furrowing his brow, he looked at Brina dryly, "why are you using chess pieces again? Is everything a game to you, Brina-san?"

A poutish look came across Brina's face for a brief moment. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

She turned her head away from him, placing her elbows on the table and folding her hands together, her eyes looking at the map. "It's not an off comparison, either. After all, what's the difference between planning out ways to corner opposing forces, breaking down fortified enemy targets, and the elimination of pest resistance any different from solving a puzzle game? To the intelligent mind, yes. This can be seen as nothing more than a game to win or lose."

"Yeah, I see what you mean," Meikurai said with a smile, standing up and pocketing his hands while looking at Brina with a hidden smile, "but after you play the game so many times, it just seems...boring. Seeing those pieces just reminds me how easy this all really is for people like you and me, since we've been playing it for so long. Right, Brina-san?"

"Normally, you'd be right..."

Brina raised her arms over her head while keeping her hands folded, shutting her eyes and arching her back in order to stretch her back for a brief moment. "But..." She continued, opening her eyes and returning her hands back to their former position. "This isn't just some regular game of chess where the board is always going to be a pattern of black and white squares. The setting shifts, new players step in, and everything moves in a constantly unpredictable cycle. The concept may stay the same, but the place will always change over time. The tables may turn in favor of one side or another. It's what keeps everything so interesting..."

It was here that she turned her blue eyes to Meikurai.

"Which brings me to a question. How are things going on your end of the field, if I may ask?"

"Ever since that incident of the Red Sun plot and the Plinian Eruption, I've managed to merge my list of trustworthy contacts and information hubs all intwined where the Sword Squad has reinforced the security within Yūrei Ōkoku. We now have nearly unlimited access to all activities, duties, and schedules of every individual within Yūrei's borders," Meikurai said with a smile, pacing around the board, tracing his fingers around the edge as he continued his jargon, "the Hankami are being secretly monitored, of course, and what gives us the best boon is that one Lieutenant Daisuke Hayate is currently in...a relationship with the Queen of Hell herself. With her nearly at his side on a constant basis, it'll be easy to keep track of her movements as well as station special watchmen to keep track of her control of Hell's forces under her sway."

These words brought an intrigued expression on Brina's face. "Such a dangerous turn of events..." She commented softly, shifting one leg over the other while folding her hands within her lap. She had scooted back from the table and had now resorted to idly spinning the chair around. "Watching the likes of a mortal city is one thing. But keeping the very Queen of Tartarus herself contained would certainly provide a challenge, especially considering how close she is to her siblings. Are the rest of the Inner Circle so sure they can do the job?"

"That's a question you'll have to ask our other associates, Brina-san, I can only say what I'm in control of," he said admittingly, shrugging as he shuffled his feet against the floor, "for the moment, I can confirm some of the reports of what I've heard. I shared some...data with a illustriously illusive co-worker of mine underneath our leader, Tsukishima-sama, and he enacted upon it. If it wasn't for additional reinforcements and certain data that sprung the Captain of the 10th Division away from the battle, he would have been able to finish him off, and our most recent battle wouldn't have turned out so disasterously against the Sect..."

"Oh!" Brina's eyes brightened up, as if suddenly remembered something. "That." Her smile momentarily widened, and she put her elbows on the armrests while her fingertips touched together. "Yes, that was quite a show Yashin put on for us, wasn't it? This must've been quite the humiliation for the 10th Division Captain to have his prey slip away due to unfortunate circumstances twice in a row. Doesn't help that the second time he had them right where he wanted them..."

She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath and pausing for a brief moment before speaking again. "But, who knows? Maybe it was fated for V-14 not to get destroyed so early. Maybe fortune decided that they would be one of our greatest adversaries to oppose us. If anything, I'm quite eager to see if they're the ones capable of piercing the heart of this very organization..."

"Surely you jest," Meikurai asked in a incredulous tone, walking in the opposite direction with his back to his feminine compatriot, "nothing is fated to happen just because things seem to go bad. Miscalculation, bad judgement, and error of tactics always play a part in coincidences, stray encounters, and often destined conflicts. If anything, the only thing I'm concerned about is that Yashin hasn't been more...enthusiastic than he has in the past decade, despite the fact these could all be labeled as disasters or failures," Meikurai spoke in a wary tone as he turned back to face Brina, now on the far side of the strategy board, sideglancing her with a wary stare.

"They can..." Brina murmured, the smile lessening. "But we have to be honest with ourselves. Despite what we've seen, Shiyōnin is nothing short of a being who does his best to stray away from our understanding. As far as he could be concerned, his so-called "failure" could be nothing more than an inconvenience or even something to benefit him in the long run. After all..."

She raised one of her hands and snapped her fingers.

Upon that nonverbal command, the monitors acted as one, switching from various scenes to one that could be viewed by the two of them.

What they both could see was what remained of the landscape after the fight between the Nihilist and Mōshin. What had been a calm plain of ice now looked like that a meteor had smashed into it. The sky had taken on a blood-red color, the clouds giving off the visage of a distorted atmosphere. The camera was moving in a helicopter-view, surveying the immense damage that had been done.

"...what's the point of crying over a few thousand shock troopers or a couple of targets slip away from his fingers..." She purred. "When he has forces that are capable of doing this?"

"The fact that he didn't even appear upon the battlefield until this...demon of his was about to unleash the literal forces of Hell upon the surprised Hankami, means that he was monitoring the entire battlefield...at least on the outside," he placed his hands behind his back, pacing back towards Brina's direction while speaking aloud, "not when one of our best associates nearly killed or incapacitated a third of the Sect's cultivated members when he revealed himself. I even heard he managed to tangle against two Daitenshi simultaneously and hardly waste any effort. If there's any other entity that I am more wary than Shiyōnin-san, its going to be Daigomi Bandai that I'd watch extra carefully..."

Brina folded her hands behind her head. "You know, when you mention it like that, it's somewhat sad to have to keep watch on your own colleagues like such..." She commented. "But I guess deception, even when in the midst of the organization itself, is a price that has to be paid for the ultimate goal." She tilted her head to the side in a curious and inquisitive manner. "You need any help with your surveillance, by any chance?"

"I just need more intel on our said two illustrious associates, Daigomi and Yashin, that's all," Meikurai quickly and honestly admitted, crossing his arms while leaning against the strategically arrayed table, smirking, "one can never have too much knowledge of those two, as obscure as it may be. The wild cards of our midst may be too wild if you ask me..."

"...oh, Shiomaneki-kun..."

Brina's tone became much more humored, and she regarded him with a look of teasing disapproval. "You may be one of the best when it comes to infiltration and espionage..." She purred. "But you just have no appreciation of a good challenge. There's no such thing as "too wild". That's only said by the people who believe that they're unable to handle it, and I'm sure you're more than capable. You should stop looking down on yourself so much."

Shrugging while smiling lopsidedly, Meikurai scratched his chin, "I probably have them figured out more than anyone else within our ascended organization, don't I? I guess maybe I'm just playing coy in case you knew something I don't?" He winked at her mischieviously, and somewhat flirtatiously as he always does, "you may never know, will you?"