Still his influence was apparent in that Captains Yamamoto, Unohana, Kyoraku, and Ukitake all knew and trusted the man; of course no one had the nerve to ask Captain Kurosuchi or Captain Zaraki. Still it was a rare opportunity for the new graduates of the Shinigami Academy to get to know their Superiors and fellow officers before they officially reported for duty and hopefully make a good impression. Of course while all of the Captains and many of their subordinates were invited many politely declined such as Captain Komamura of Squad 7, or rather impolitely as was the case with Captain Kurotsuchi of Squad 12.
Unohana took particular note of a certain young girl who was both serving and helping to coordinate the servants as far out of the eyes of the staff as she could, Unless I am mistaken that is Kurosaki-san's other daughter Yuzu, I wonder if Isshin would allow her to be groomed for duty with Squad 2, she seems to have a talent for organization and she appears to have a healer's manner to her.
Of course as was customary with Japanese gatherings of the like sake was being poured to those who asked, and as is often the case several individuals partook far too liberally. This meant that it wasn't long before someone got violent and surprising to many (but not too many) it wasn't one of the members of Squad 11, whose only losh Ikkaku Madarame was in the middle of an arm-wrestling match with Lieutenant Iba Tetsuzaimon of Squad 7 but was still being polite to the servants. No much to Captain Soifon's embarrassment it was her own lieutenant Marechiyo Ōmaeda, "Hey servant girl," the said grabbing the arm of Yuzu as she walked by, "Whas th idea of serving a member of th Ōmaydh clan thish thrd rate fotsusu? I deman tha you brng be some joonmysu thish minut."
"I'm sorry sir; we don't have any Junmai-shu on the estate. The best we had was a small cask of Ginjo-shu, and that was specifically reserved for the Captain's table. Also you've been drinking Daiginjo-shu not Futsu-shu"
"Don you gif me tha kina lip you waif, Al hv you know..."
Thankfully Marechiyo's drunken antics ended where Kenpachi Zaraki's fist began, "I just hate it when stupid drunks spoil the party." The 'sword-wielding maniac’ told Yuzu through a saw-toothed grin as he patted her head.
"Thank you Zaraki-sama," Yuzu said as she bowed her head.
"No need for all the formalities kid," he said waving at her to get up, "just do me a favor bring my lieutenant some Mame Daifuku when you're able."
"Certainly Zaraki-sama," Yuzu said with a smile, "I will get right on that." and left for the kitchen to but stopped along the way to ask one of the other serving girls, "Yayoi, can you please keep things running smoothly for me, I have a special order to take care of in the kitchen."
"Certainly Yuzu-sama, I shall endeavor to do my best."
Meanwhile back in the world of the living, Urahara was closing shop for the evening and waiting for his final employee to arrive to help do inventory so of course he was relieved when Shaolan entered through the front, "Hey Shao-chan right on time, we need to get started right away, I just got a big shipment in and so we need to get it all properly counted and entered into the inventor-iee..."
Before Kisuke had even finished his sentence Shaolan had Urahara upside down and forced up against the back wall. This was no easy feat considering Urahara used to be the Corps Commander of the Special Forces Detention Unit, a job where the main requirement was that they had to be able to handle rogue Shinigami bare-handed.
Then again Shaolan was a bit of a special case, she was a recently reawakened Shinigami from an age long before the foundation of both the present incarnation of the Gotei 13, the Shinigami Academy, and some may claim even the Seireitei as it is now. The only Shinigami present in the Seireitei who knew her personally from back then were Captain Unohana, whom she had once served as both a lieutenant and as the Corps Commander of the now extinct Curse-Breaker Unit, and of course Commander-General Yamamoto.
During a mission over a millennium before the present, she had become trapped in the matrices of Jusenkyo an artifice of necrotic energies constructed by one of the last surviving Arrancar...Happosai. While she had succeeded in leaving him imprisoned in a substantially weakened, pseudo mortal form in the world of the living with a case of amnesia, Shaolan herself was caught in an state between existence and oblivion, her mind torn apart by both the ravages of time and the magic of Jusenkyo...that is until her spirit was liberated accidentally by a mortal boy named Ranma Saotome.
Of course while she had finally been freed of Jusenkyo, time had taken so much of a toll upon her spirit that she wasn't even aware of her own existence as a being separate of her host. Still her freedom had come, after many adventures Ranma had learned of a technique that he had hoped would free him of his curse, instead he had paved the way for a series of events that had nearly doomed the mortal world as Happosai's powers and memory were returned to him.
Still all had turned out well and Shaolan decided to leave Nerima behind her, and set out to find herself which had soon lead her to Urahara's front door. While in her first existence Shaolan was no stranger to handling a rough individual, after gaining the fighting instincts and refined skills of a mortal boy who could fight on even ground with demons, mythic monsters and gods to add to her own considerable abilities as a Shinigami, Shaolan was now an extremely skilled and competent fighter especially after sparing with Yoruichi for two years to seamlessly integrate them into a cohesive style.
She was also a very competent fighter who had a very good reason to be angry with Urahara, "Alright Kisuke you have all of five minutes to explain to me why my best student Tatsuki Arisawa is suddenly a Shinigami and shows up in class with another Shinigami inside what is obviously one of your gigai and why you conveniently forgot to tell me before they showed up at the dojo today."
"Ha ha, well you see it’s a funny story Shao!" the shop owner nervously chuckled from his position as a wall ornament.
"It had better be," Shaolan stated in an even tone which carried the weight of her threat, "otherwise I will personally wound you, where it will hurt you the most."
"Well you see it’s like this," Urahara began to elaborate, "a Hollow followed Tatsuki home from the cemetery when she went to pay her respects to the Kurosaki Family. Of course a Shinigami, one Rukia Kuchiki and the girl that you most likely saw at your dojo today, showed up to fight it. Things happened and Rukia was wounded and had to temporarily deputize Tatsuki to let her fight the Hollow. Of course this might complicate maters given her 'heritage'."
"Of course you are going to have to explain to the source of that 'heritage' why Tatsuki is running around outside her body wearing a Shihakusho and waving a Zanpakuto around, and I doubt that he's going to be happy. Besides given her 'heritage' this 'temporary' transformation has likely awakened her own abilities and it’s not going to fade, it’s more likely it will only continue to grow until they reach the first stage of equilibrium."
"So will you put me down now?" Kisuke asked while trying to keep his hat on his head.
"Yeah, but I'm still going to make you suffer," Shaolan said while smiling and oddly checking her watch.
"Oh and just how are you going to do that?" Urahara asked smugly as he hid his smile behind his now retracted silk-fan."
Just then there was a knock at the shop's front door, which Shaolan immediately answered. A young man's voice could be heard on the other side, "Here's what you ordered ma'am Deluxe Unagi-don for five, after delivery that comes to 5500 yen."
She answered him back, "Here, keep the change."
"Thank you ma'am, I'll be back later for the dishes."
"So that's your revenge, buying us dinner," Urahara said his fan still in place, "you are slipping Shao-chan."
"I was not the one who bought dinner Kis-chan," Shaolan said with a grin and tone that would have made her old housemate Nabiki Tendo proud, "by the way here's your wallet back." Urahara stared in shock as the familiar tan-leather rectangle that landed by his feet.
As she walked to Orihime’s house that evening Tatsuki’s mind was adrift, Just why is Rukia so interested in Orihime? For that matter why did it matter that Orihime's brother Sora was dead, it had been three years ago he had likely moved on or been konsoued by now.
Oh well, at least mom had made more than enough at dinner for me to take some over to Orihime's, I swear with that girl's since of taste its like she was born with the tongue of a pregnant woman.
As she stepped up to Orihime's apartment Tatsuki suddenly felt a weird sensation...almost like she was being watched, but as there was nothing in sight she dismissed it as the night's chill getting to her. After climbing the stairs and knocking on Orihime’s door Tatsuki was greeted by the friend in question, “Oh Tatsuki, thanks for coming over.”
“Hey it’s no trouble,” Tatsuki said before presenting the dish to her friend, “here I brought over some beef stew.”
“Oh thank you I was just about to start dinner,” Inoue replied while inviting her friend inside, “here let me heat it up for you.”
Thank goodness, Tatsuki sighed internally, I arrived just in time to avoid another of Orihime’s creations in the kitchen. Tatsuki shuddered when that thought jogged the memory of the Cajun Tuna-Banana Protein Shake, that her friend made to help recover from her final match at the Kanto Regional Finals two years ago against a member of the Sarayaski Karate Team.
Maybe it was just Inoue's dinner preparations that I was feeling on the way over, Tatsuki deflated as her stress released from her body, It's not like there was a Hollow or anything...nearby...
The Substitute Shinigami's relief quickly turned to unease again as she felt something off in the room, suddenly Orihime's teddy bear fell of the shelf, "Oh Enraku fell down," Inoue shouted as she raced across the room to the fallen stuffed animal, "Aw, It's terrible, he's ripped."
"Inoue lookout," Tatsuki shouted as she charged forward when suddenly a giant hand shot from the bear and…
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(Posted Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:00)
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