The Fetching Shinigami [RP thread]

[Zanjutsu]

A Steady Meeting

“Now I’ve been working as a shinigami for next to five years and I'm still only rank and file shinigami and not the slightest sign of achieving shikai from this stupid thing! Yes, I’m talking to you, zanpaktou!” she said and shook the sword, with her hands. “What am I to tell granny in the next letter I send her?” she exclaimed frustrated. “Ohh… I’m no closer to promotion, just running around in here fetching stupid things for my squad! I am the best grandchild you could wish, now let’s give it five years more and maybe my frickin’ zanpaktou will let out a fart or something. Grrr!!!” she said loudly and threw her zanpaktou against the wall of the warehouse, having realized that the thing she was fetching for her squad had been moved to yet ANOTHER warehouse, without the anyone telling anyone about it.

“Ryujuu-san?!? Are you finished in there?” a voice yelled from the other side of the warehouse. “Yeess, I’ll be right there Warehousemanager-sama!” she yelled in a very sarcastic tone, knowing he wouldn’t be able to distinguish her sarcasm from the real thing, walking out of the warehouse sulking, dropping the key to the warehouse on the manager’s desk, feeling pretty damn tired of her misfortune. “Hey..! Ryujuu-san, why are you in such mood today?” the manager asked her. In truth it wasn’t his fault, she was just taking the central administration’s poor logistics management out on him. “Naah… don’t worry about it, it’s just not my day today, and the squad leader won’t be getting what I was sent out to get today…” she said disappointed and threw herself down in the manager’s armchair. “Hmm… which package was it, Ruyjuu-san?” he asked fiddling with some packages behind his desk. “TF109J…” she said resignedly, mentally trying to prepare herself for another round of sweeping the courtyard after failing to complete her task.

“Ohhh that one! I got that right here! It just needed to dry a bit after having become a bit wet after the carrier had dropped in in a puddle.” He said and held it up, as Katinka’s face lit up. “You’re a lifesaver, thank you!” she said snatching the package and running out of the office again. “Ehh… you’re welcome…” the manager said and scratchec his head, trying to figure her out. “Fantastic! Now the 16th seat will behappy with me again and I will finally get that promotion I’ve dreamed about for so long. Ohh granny, the next letter will be so much more fun to write!” she cheered, clenching her fist and speeding up, so she could give her officer the great news. “My recent transfer from the 4th to the 5th division because I forgot to heal because I wanted to fight wasn’t too bad… If only they would use me for something else than fetching things and cleaning like in the 4th division dammit!” she said and clenched her fist, threatening someone in no general direction.

“Hmm… so you’ve fetched me the priority A package and actually completed your mission, Ryujuu-san. Great.” The 16th seat said and turned away. “Hey, wait! Isn’t it about time I get my promotion?!?” Katinka said and grabbed his sleeve. “What..? Don’t grab my sleeve ever again, I could have you locked for that. Also completing a single mission correctly isn’t grounds for promotion at all, and lastly you’re nowhere near achieving shikai, so that’s out of the question. Now go and report for guard duty, it’s your turn tonight right? Then I’ll call you when the next important mission is in.” he said and tried to suppress a giggle. “Ahh, my deo! Time to smell nice for the girls tonight!” he said to himself, as Katinka left the room. “A fucking deo?!? Priority A package my bald ass!” she sulked as she fetched her zanpaktou and headed for guard duty.

Usually it was important books for their library she was sent to get, and even though she didn’t care much about books, this scraped the bottom. Now her grandmother would write her usual disappointed “Dammit!” she thought, as she was interrupted by a drunk 5th division shinigami roaming the streets, trying to cling to the walls in order to move forward. “Oh my luck! And today it’s Friday and the usual suspects have had a bit much to drink!” she said and looked around. “Great, no other guards but me around, so it seems I have to take care of this large goofball.” She said and threw out her arms, approaching the drunken shinigami, who was mostly reminding her about her about an overinflated water balloon with arms and legs, standing much taller than her. But from her time in Rukongai, she wasn’t at all afraid of the big guys, as most of them fled when finding out she was afraid of twisting their nose or kicking their groin to inflict some pain. Most drunks here respected her for that, and had quickly learned her way of doing it, and ceased their stupid behavior as soon as they saw her displeased frown.

But this guy was new, and Katinka thought she’d better teach him how to behave on her guard duty. Some of the men let certain things and behavior pass, but she wasn’t about to jump any fences, as she knew that if she let disrespectful behavior pass, it would come kick her in the butt soon enough. “Hey! Drunken guy! You should head home now!” she said, yanking in his collar, while he tried to regain his balance against a wall. But much to her surprise, the yanking caused the guy to lose balance in her direction and land right on top of her. “Heeey… what a sweet treat I’ve found!” he said in his drunken voice, drooling in her head. “Or are you perhaps a… boy..?” he said, clearly clouded by his drunkedness. “Get OFF MEE!!!” Katinka screamed as the force the back of her hand up to her chest. “Hado no 8, Seki!” she chanted and unleashed the repulsion hado, and saw the big drunk fly of her, landing in some nearby trash heap. “Dammit! And he’s probably even too drunk to remember that it was me, the next time I see him, and I’ll have to give him the rough treatment again…” she said and brushed off her shihakusho, strolling over to the garbage heap to give the guy some treatment if necessary. “Hmm… fallen asleep… I guess he won’t remember it’s me giving him those scratched tomorrow…” she said and turned around, intending to do a few more rounds.

“Ryujuu Katinka!” a stern voice called out to her a few meters in front of her, as she turned around. It was the guard chief! Katinka instantly stood up straight with her arms straight down and turning on her neutral face. “I thought I felt you’re reiatsu here! How many times have I said that neither bakudo, hado or ken is allowed to subdue a target! What was it this time, that made him end up over there? Sho? Seki?” the bald guard chief asked as he put his face right up under her nose, with his hands on his back. “Hado no. 8, seki! Guard chief-sama!” she said loud and clear, as she had learned to do it. “Seki… you say? Have you any idea how dangerous that is? If that was a noble’s son, he could have you slapped in irons before you could spell the name of that hado! Do you understand, Ryujuu-san?” he said firmly. “Yes! I understand, guard chief-sama!” she said, even more loud and clear than before. “Then go and be on your way. And work on your damn hakuda, if people like him give you trouble! You told me yourself, that you low and thin looking stature wouldn’t be a problem!” he said as he left and waved his hand, as if he was it to her, to come up with a solution. “Get stronger!” he added, as he left back towards the guards office.

“Phew…” Katinka said and wiped her forehead from the few drops of sweat the guard chief’s small interrogation had applied her. “That man is too clinging waaay too much to the rules!” she said to herself, but reckoned he might have a point about the Hakuda thing, as her dirty, little tricks didn’t always cut it in these situations, and she knew that. “Goddammit grown!” she said frustrated to herself and pounded her chest. “Grow reiatsu, so I can become much stronger than this!” she cried out and flung out her arms in anger, that her spirit didn’t listen to her very well, and ended up sitting down, leaning towards a wall. “I just wish I’d get more duties in the real world or out in Rukongai, so I could get some real fighting experience. The others who get it, usually return seeming so much stronger than before.” She said and sighed, looking up towards the stars, dreaming.

“Hmm..?” she said, having been awoken from her dreamy slumber, by the squeeking sound of a rat apparently trying to eat the big shinigami’s tongue over at the garbage heap. “Guess the right thing would be to carry you to your barracks, big man…” she sighed, as she went over to him, and looked at the ID, embroidered into the inside of his shihakusho, where an inner pocket would normally be. “Hmm… so you’re a rotten rank and file shinigami like me, huh? 3rd barrack, that’s just besides mine. Funny I haven’t seen you yet. But let’s go, I’ll give you a ride this time..!” she said, and swung his massive arm over her shoulder, trying to control and balance his weight on her back.

“Oi..! Yamato-san! Wooah, you really have gotten a lot to drink. And you kinda’ stink..!” one of his party friends commented, when Katinka brought him back to his barrack. “Yeah, I found him passed out in a trash heap. Next time when you’re partying, please escort him home, right?” Katinka remarked, but was ignored by the guys, who were already over the moon, that he was slightly waking up, taking his growling noises as a signal that he wanted a bit more sake. “Sheesh! It’s like this every Friday! The captain really should let us enforce the strict alcohol policy a bit more.” She said to herself, as she went back into the silent night, where not much else seemed to happen right now. Speaking of the captain, she’d never actually seen him, though rumors said he was kind of hot, but every division seemed to adore their captain in some way. “Hmm… wonder if he’s weak, if they don’t worship him for his battle prowess?” she said to herself, scratching her chin. “But come to think about it, I’ve never actually met anyone from of the one digit seated officers. But I guess it’s because I’m always running errands or doing the night watch, after all I’ve been here for like three months now…” she thought, and secretly hoped she would soon be acknowledged by some of the higher up’s, as guard duty and running errands wasn’t exactly what she had envisioned when entering Seireitei. Actually it felt much like out in Rukongai where she was running errands for the local grocers and well… fetching things from pockets from time to time. Not something she was proud of, but necessary to get by.

Well, it was much the same to the point that the thugs were now shinigami with long, sharp swords, and though being a great deal more peaceful inside Seireitei, she did tend to miss the sprawling chaos of the Rukongai market a bit. Suddenly she felt something moving from one of the elevated pathways in this district, and a girl, no taller than herself, emerged from the shadow, and with fine footsteps and an elegant posture, which only nobles could have attained, she walked along the wooden pathway, making almost no sound when walking, and one could have the obsidian haired girl mistaken from just that, a shadow. But Katinka noticed her, even though it was almost as if she didn’t want to be noticed, as if she had send a reflection of her from another world to do her duty. Katinka was even unsure whether or not she had glanced at her or not, as she had that noble’s look, that one would not know, if they look right at you or right through you. But before she could consider it any further, she had already gone around the corner.

“Phew…!” Katinka said, not even realizing before after the black haired girl had left, that she had been severely affected by her reiatsu. Not only the amount but certainly also they it made her doubt whether the event she just witnessed was real or an illusion. “Alright, wake up, cloud-head!” she said and banged her head a couple of times with the heel of her palm. “If you’re going to move up in this world, every shinigami with just a bit of reiatsu shouldn’t be affecting you like this. We’ve talked about this before, head!” she said scolding herself. In reality she felt that she should be scolding her very soul for having absolutely jack reiatsu compared to many of the other shinigami. Her petty tricks would likely not impress the captain class even the slightest.

“Guard chief-sama! I’m done with tonight’s guard duty!” Katinka said, bowing before the guard chief sitting behind his desk. “Okay, you may go, Ryujuu-san.” He said, as Katinka left and was on her way out of the door, when he decided to add something. “You’re okay, Ryujuu-san. I’m happy with you, just wanted you to know that.” He said in a friendly voice. “Thankyouverymuch!” Katinka exclaimed, not leaving any pauses between the words and hurried out of the door. Did she really get praise from that sturdy, old goat? “Yesss!” She exclaimed to herself. “On my way to the captains quarters very soon! Oh shit, gotta go write that letter for grandmother!” she said, and hurried back to her barracks.

 

[Zanjutsu]

A Lot of Trouble

“Ryujuu-san! Wake up, Ryujuu-san!” she suddenly heard, as she felt a slap to her cheek, and sat straight up in her bed, seeing one of her colleagues standing next to her. “I’ve tried to wake you up the last five minutes. The squad leader is looking for you, you have a mission!” he said with urgency to his voice. “A mission?!?” she said, not understanding et first, as usually these things were given with at least a week’s notice, but who were she to judge?

“Thanks, I’ll be there right away!” she said, and was about to grab her zanpaktou, as she saw the paper in front of her, that she had been one her way to writing last night, but must have passed out before being able to finish it. “Shit, I usually reply her every week! Hmm… but this has to take precedence, since there will be a lot more to write about when I get back from the mission!” she said and clenched her fist, feeling the success finally starting to manifest, and hurried out of the door, quickly running towards the courtyard, where they were supposed to assemble. “Shit, they have already lined up...!” she said to herself, and quickly found her place in the line.

“… and as you know, Wahiro-san has caught the flu and we have found a suitable replacement for him… whom I see have just arrived… and thus we can get moving! Come on guys, let’s go!” the squad leader said casually and signaled them to follow him. “Ahh… and you must be Ryujuu-san, right?” he asked and smiled. “Yes sir, ready for service!” she said and bowed. “That’s great! Wahiro-san didn’t always show such enthusiasm, so I’m happy that you’ll probably prove very useful here on your first mission for the 5th squad.” He said, as she heard some of the others trying to conceal their chuckles, struggling to find out what was going on.

“I have a… special task for you… we entrust this important bag to you for to carry and guard with your life!” he said, as she saw two other shinigami dragging a backpack filled to its absolute limit over to her. “… what’s in it?” she asked curiously, looking at the ominously heavy backpack, dreading the thought of having to carry this all the way. “I’m sorry, but I cannot tell you as its value is important to the mission.” He said and waved his finger in front of her. “Alright… I guess I’ll take it and guard it as well as I can…” she said reluctantly, feeling as if something wasn’t quite right about that bag. “Great! Then let’s go, Ryujuu-san!” he said and patted her on the back, as she had to use two tries to lift up on her shoulders, and almost fell backwards from the weight of it, before regaining balance and was starting to move forwards one step of the time, trying to follow the fifteen man large group, while sweating more than she cared to admit.

This reminded her too much of the shinigami falling on top of her yesterday, only the thing smelling bad was her own sweat and not his, and she couldn’t just send this bag flying with a kido, if she got tired of it. And what kind of mission was this anyway? The only thing she knew was, that it was probably somewhere in Rukongai, as the Senkaimon was the complete opposite way. Using what little breath she had left from carrying the backpack, she caught the attention of one of the more approachable looking guys in the squad. “Sorry if I’m intruding, but I arrived too late to catch where we were going?” she asked the guy, as he glanced at her. “This? It’s just a routine patrol around the east Rukongai’s more rural area, nothing to get excited about really…” the guy said and turned his attention elsewhere.

“Routine..?” Katinka said to herself, thinking that walking aimlessly around Rukongai was something she had tried herself far too often. At best they’d be seeing a couple of lazy street thugs looking for a fight, but with this many shinigami, they’d be crazy to even look at them the wrong way. Thinking about it, this was actually an empowering feeling, being on a team which no one could touch. The thugs giving her a hard time when she was younger would shit their pants having to take her on now with her “backup”. This made Katinka really want to become squad leader herself at some point, just so she could seek out her old “friends” with shinigami backup and ask them if they’d want some, feeling empowered as she was unconsciously shadow boxing, while carrying the large backpack. “Damn they would have it coming!” she exclaimed.

“What are you talking about, new shinigami-san?” the guy asked her as she immediately stopped her shadow boxing. “Ehh… me? Nothing..! Nothing at all! Just stretching my shoulders and arms, making sure the backpack’s comfortable!” she said with a wide grin, almost believing he’d buy it, as she couldn’t possibly begin to explain to a stranger what weird dreams of revenge she was having. “Oh… it just looked like you were having some sort of vengeful dream about something…” he said casually. “No! I mean… not really! I mean… probably not!” she said, struggling to appear composed. “Hmm… don’t I know you from somewhere?” the shinigami asked and started to take interest in her, looking more intently at her. “Hmm… I think I do… You’re that girl who bosses people around when their drunk? Ha yeah! You’re a legend in the bar! Though nobody likes you, they sure do respect you for your toughness little lady!” he said and laughed before marching on.

“Nobody… likes me?” Katinka said, as the words from the stranger struck her harder than she had imagined possible from someone she didn’t know. Of course it was a ungrateful job to be a guard at nighttime having to stop people who were “just having fun”, but at least she thought people would understand when they got sober again. The booze probably did something about their memory of the situation it seemed, though she couldn’t shake the feeling of rejection. Right now she was the only one not laughing and talking with someone else, plus she was carrying the huge ass backpack, which weight made her seem smaller than she actually was. “This sucks…” she muttered and dragged her heavy legs on, hoping it was soon time for a break, so she could rest and would have better time to feel sorry for herself.

“Alright guys, we’ll take a break here for a while!” the team leader shouted, as the approached a small grove, with no civilization to be seen anywhere near. “Nice… at least I have luck going for me…” she said sarcastically, as she let her backpack drop and sat herself with her back up against a tree, dragging her legs towards her chest and resting her head on her knees. “Shitty mission… what an utterly shitty mission…” she said muted, as she noticed some commotion a good ten meters away from her and reluctantly looked up from her hole of self-pity.

“Woaah! That’s really something!” a shinigami said impressed, as the squad leader had whipped out what seemed to be his shikai, a Kama like weapon with a chain attached to it and a small, spiked metal ball on the end of it. “What’s it called and what does it do?” another shinigami asked, seemingly in awe, as the squad leader reveled in all the attention. “It’s not “called” anything, as shikai have their own name. So its name is Water Flower, and the spiked orb here fires off high pressured balls of water while the blade of the Kama uses water as an extension to its blade!” he said proudly, as everyone pleaded and begged for his him to try it out. “No no, this is only for real battle!” he said instructively and smiled, as Katinka turned her eyes towards the sky, only to stare displeased at her own zanpaktou and jealously at his again.

“Not joining in on the festivities?” a sarcastic male voice said from behind her, as she hadn’t noticed anyone sitting on the other side of the tree. “No… I’m focusing on the mission.” Was her short answer, which basically meant ‘fuck off’, but for some reason the guy didn’t comply. “Yeah… I guess you are, since you’ve got a very special one.” He said, Katinka noticing he had a rather… direct way of speaking, much unlike the polite and whimsy nobles that made out most of Seireitei. “What do you mean?” she said, trying to seem disinterested. “The stones.” He said, seemingly topping her in disinterestedness, and poking to her curiosity more than she liked. “What stones?” she said, trying to get him to reveal what he meant, but only heard a loud sigh, as he stood up and was about to leave by the sound of it.

“Hey, I’m talking to you! What stones?!?” she said, as she immediately stood up, and faced him, noticing the black, messy hair, reminding her of her own, just longer, and the long, slender body, which almost seemed slightly emaciated plus his facial expression which was more in the line of a Rukongai punk gone solo. “The stones in your backpack of course. You thought it was something important?” he said with his hands in the pocket openings of his shihakusho. “That’s not..!” she said, and looked at the backpack, about to deny everything he said, but unfortunately it was becoming very clear, that the backpack had the exact shape of many apple and melon sized stones filling it out. “… shit…” she said and looked at him feeling slightly embarrassed from being tricked like that.

“Don’t look at me like that, everyone here has been through the same on their first mission in the 5th squad. It’s routine, nothing personal.” He said and cast another glance at the squad leader with his shikai. “But that thing… that thing makes me feel something personal I tell you.” He sad and looked like he meant it. “What do you mean?” Katinka said, not sure you were allowed to feel such emotions as a shinigami. “I’d like to kill him.” He said, and looked intently on Katinka. “Wha… what?!?” she exclaimed, as he looked at the squad leader again, this time more casually. “Not that I’d do it, but I’d like to, that’s for sure. He’s too self-absorbed. Don’t you get those kinds of emotions once in a while?” he asked her, as if they were talking about the weather and not murderous emotions.

“Ehh… No! No in fact I don’t, and I think you’re crossing the line!” she said, trying to protect her self from what she thought was just a bit too direct expression of thought. “Well… then I shall call you Saint Shinigami from now on.” he said and winked, letting out a cheeky smile as he walked past her and in the general direction of the crowd surrounding the squad leader. “You little…!” she muttered, but ultimately thought she was better off just ignoring him, like you would ignore a hurtful comment from a drunk guy. After all she didn’t really know him and he seemed like a shady guy, one you really didn’t want to have by your side when things went down. “Hey, Ryujuu-san! Why don’t you go take point a bit further ahead instead of standing there like a lone sunflower? That vigilance can be used more efficiently!” the squad leader said. “Yes sir!” she said formally and bowed, though she sulked a bit, feeling as if she was being sent away for no purpose other than the squad leader didn’t want anyone around him who wasn’t an adoring fan.

“This is shit! This isn’t what I signed up for!” she said, as she had found another tree to sit by a bit further ahead, where no one could hear her. “What would I write granny? ‘Dear granny! I’ve been pestered all week by this stupid squad commander and now I’m hammering my fists down into the moss in frustration. Aside from that, all is well and exactly the same as before. How are you?’ she muttered sarcastically and crossed her arms. “Guarding trees again?” a voice asked her, as she turned around looking up at the guy from before, leaning up at the very tree she was using as backrest. “What..?!? Are you some kind of assassin, sneaking up like that? And no, I’m not guarding trees, I was sent up front to take point!” she said sourly. “Why are you following me?” she asked, as she quickly stood up again. “You know, I can defend myself! I’ve taken down men twice your size!” she said victoriously.

“Relax, I’m guarding trees like you. The squad commander thought we would both make a good couple while he needed more attention from his groupies. “Ryujuu couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, though she quickly turned serious again. “I don’t care why he sent me, but I’m definitely taking this task seriously, or else I couldn’t call myself a shinigami!” she said and sounded a bit more holy than she had perhaps intended. “Yeah, yeah… I heard you sulking before. Are you in a hurry to prove something, Ryujuu-san?” he asked and looked intently on her. “No… no! Definitely not! I’m… just… well… Alright then, I admit I don’t exactly fancy being sent all the way out here just to lean against another tree, though I don’t have to listen to him anymore – which IS nice…” she said softening up a bit.

“But how about you, you don’t seem like you his number one, right hand man either?” she pointed out. “Hah! That would be to exaggerate waaay to much, if you’d imply that!” he said and laughed. “Truth is: He can’t stand the sight of me. We’ve been to the same class in the Academy, and I used to beat him in every subject from zanjutsu to hakuda and kido, which he never forgot. He’s got a prized ego, and that ego seemed to rise further in value for him when he at some point managed to release shikai and become squad commander. I think he’s really just afraid that I’d challenge him some day and win, though that’s not my style.” He said casually. “No… your style is sneaking up behind people, I noticed that.” She said sarcastically. “And by the way, that’s not fair! He saw me speaking with you, so now he hates me too because of you!” she said, crossing her arms.

“Don’t worry about, all you have to do is walk up to him and give his shikai three kisses and everything will be forgotten. You can do that, can’t you?” the black haired guy provoked her. “Actually no, I can’t do that sort of thing.” She answered quickly. “Then we’re just alike, and you’ll find I’m the only one here who shares your view. Everyone else thinks they can get promoted just by adoring his shikai, but I think your pretty little head is more intelligent than that…” he said, though faster than he could react, she had jumped up to his height and butted her head into his midair causing him to fall to his knees in pain. “… and that’s not the only thing my head is capable of!” she said firmly. “Aooww! That really hurt..! I complimented you!” he cried and felt his forehead.

“Compliments will only get you so far. And like you said, compliments won’t get you promoted!” she said determined, as the guy gave her a wry smile. “You’re a clever little one, aren’t you?” he said, getting up again. “I like you, so I’ll tell you my name. It’s Kamei Yuko, but please just call me Yuko. I’m from Rukongai, so I don’t do those fancy names, though I respect those who prefer it that way.” He said with a friendly tone. “Thank you for telling me your name, but just as a heads up, you’ll continue addressing me formally, right?” Katinka said placing her hands on either side of her hips. “Sure, sure! I’ve already felt what happened if I annoy you! Now I know why drunks in the 5th division never make it home unbruised!” he said with a wry smile. “You’re pushing it..!” she said, giving him a menacing glance. “Sorry, sorry!” he said and chuckled.

 

[Zanjutsu]

A Lot of Trouble Continues

“I’m not a strong shinigami, you know?” Katinka said in rare display of openness. “I tried for so many years, and still I don’t know the first thing about my zanpaktou and shikai and the sorts. “Sure, I know how to cut things up and fire some kido, but that’s about it!” she said and made movements in the air resembling two handed cuts with a zanpaktou. “Don’t worry too much about it. There has to be rank and file shinigami like us to pour wine for the seated guys and rub their backs, while listening to their menos-slaying stories.” Yuko said and sighed, while looking up into the air. “You make me want to vomit.” Katinka said frowning. “I know you don’t mean that, and also I don’t think you’re quite as “rank and file” as you say you are.” Katinka said, trying to make him open up a bit more. “Hmm… maybe?” he said with a wry smile. But neither are you I guess. You have potential and your spiritual power is definitely above what you would expect for a normal rank and file shinigami, though maybe still not as high as to expect being able to do a shikai release just yet.” Yuko said and scratched his chin, looking like he was scrying her.

“But you can. You know, do shikai right?” Katinka asked almost without hesitation, with her hands holding each other on her back, almost expecting him to tell a long story about how he found out, though he seemed to hesitate doing so. “… or when you said, you might be able to beat the squad leader, you were planning on hiding his sword before maybe?” she taunted him. “Maybe. Maybe you ask too many questions.” He said and turned his head away, though she followed him and continued to look at him, very deliberately. “But if I don’t ask no questions, I won’t get no answers, isn’t that right, sempai?” she asked, doing her most sugar coated voice. “What the hell is what that voice?!? You just head butted me a few moments ago and now you act all schoolgirl like with those huge, blue eyes and shady, sweet voice, huh?!?” Yuko said and put his hands on the side of his hips, trying to give her a hard stare, though it failed as she stood in front of him blinking and continuing keeping eye contact. “Whatever, whatever! Please just ditch that behavior and I’ll tell you!” he said and threw out his arms. “That’s more like it!” she said and turned completely back to her normal self, sitting down, resting her back against a tree, waiting for him to commence his story. “Girls…” he said to himself, as he sat down also.

“I don’t know, what you were expecting. Yes I have shikai, and I keep it a secret, because I don’t want to turn around four times a day and chase away shinigami trying to lift up my hakama to lick my ass, expecting me to teach them about how to achieve shikai!” he said and looked at her Katinka. “Don’t worry Yuko, I wouldn’t lift up your hakama if I could draw a bankai right out of your ass.” Katinka said with a plain face. “Ehh… well… I guess that’s nice to know…” Yuko said, not knowing quite how to tackle this girl’s awkward ways of answering him. “It wasn’t directed at you of course…” he said apologetically. “Yes it was, but luckily I found other ways of getting information out of you.” She answered. “I… well forget it… I just know one thing: No shikai is ever going to manifest from that blade besides you, if you don’t give it something to eat! And by eating I mean reiatsu, not necessarily blood! Reiatsu is basically the thing it wants and needs to grow, and like a plant it won’t bloom before you’re able to provide it with enough of it. There, I’m done. Enough reiatsu equals a shiny new shikai!” he said and smiled confidently. “How?” Katinka asked plainly. “How? Well… hmm… I guess you try until it works?” he said while shrugging. “Try what?” Katinka asked again. “To communicate with your zanpaktou and learn its name. You know, Jinzen?” he said. “No I don’t, and you’re not a very good teacher.” She said and crossed her arms. “How come you don’t know Jinzen?!? Sword meditation was a core subject at The Academy!” Yuko said astounded. “Hmm… ahh yes… the sleeping lessons. I never really figured out what they were for…” she said and scratched her chin, as Yuko looked at her dumbfounded.

“Well, if you’re messing with me, I’m going to tie a knob on that sword of yours and we’ll call that a release!” He said angrily. “Well… I don’t believe that nonsense. Strength comes from training and then you sleep to regain the strength you lost during the day. What good will it bring me, to sit quietly with a sword in my hands thinking of how sharp it is or something like that?” she asked discontent with the idea of Jinzen. “Like it or not, nobody in the history of Soul Society have reached shikai without putting some fair amount of effort into Jinzen. Hell I wasn’t convinced first time I did it, but very quickly I felt how a started to share my reiatsu with my sword, and it shared its reiatsu with me, somehow binding us together more and more and making us strong… hey you little dipshit, listen to me!” he yelled angrily, as Katinka had picked up a nearby flower, drowsily looking at it as she spun it around between her fingers. “But you sound sooo much like those boring teachers at that time, so you’re going to make me want to sleep if you keep it up…” she said, still not removing her eyes from the spinning flower.

“This is all wrong…!” Yuko mumbled to himself. “I’m not the one wanting to know how to obtain shikai dammit..!” he continued and snapped the flower out of her hand. “Now draw your sword and put it on top of your palms while doing a cross legged position!” he commanded with an authoritative voice, as she instinctively did what he said, reacting on the firm voice. “Good, now get your back straight and curl those legs together!” he said and corrected her position by slightly kicking her legs and back where needed. Katinka felt her face becoming increasingly red with anger, having never been treated like this before. The teachers at the academy had yelled at her, but never physically corrected her positioning, rather they had given up on her pretty fast, which suited her well. “Dammit, would you quit doing that!?!” she cried out and opened her eyes wide. “Yes. Actually yes, I would very much like to quit doing that. You’re not in any way cooperating, so that sounds nice!” he said and lay down on his back, putting a straw into his mouth, pretending to not care. “Shit that little son of a… how dare he be this cheeky…” she mumbled very quietly, making it almost impossible to judge whether or not she was actually moving her lips.

“Alright! Don’t be such a… whatever… It doesn’t suit you. Please teach me this stuff and I’ll be your willing little student from now on or something like that, right?” she suddenly exclaimed, knowing very well she was the one to blame, but had a very bad track record of not admitting her own involvement in these kind of situations. “Ohh… there you go! Do I sense a tiny bit of willingness to learn? Interesting!” he said sarcastically. “Yes whatever, please just tell me what I have to do, right?” she said reluctantly, rolling her eyes before shutting them. “That’s the spirit! For Jinzen to work, you need a bit of peace and quiet. You need to let yourself drift and reach out towards the zanpaktou spirit without forcing it.” Yuko guided her with the calmest voice he could do. “Hmm… I think I might feel something, it feels like…” but before she could end the sentence she jumped up, letting go of her sword, frantically brushing of her clothes. “Shit..! Get out of there! GET OUT!” she cried, as a small larvae fell out under her shihakusho. “That little demon crawled up under my shihakusho!!!” she said and pointed at the green fellow, dragging its way along the forest floor. “Haha, so you are a girl anyway, despite the masculine behavior?!?” Yuko laughed, though at that very same moment, Katinka threw the larvae right in his face, causing him to let out a scream so high pitched, it could have come from a ten year old girl. “And you talk about girlish behavior…” she said with a smug face, looking at the shocked Yuko.

“Hey you two, we leave now! You should probably remember your zanpaktou.” A shinigami suddenly said and chuckled, pointing at her zanpaktou, which had gotten itself stuck in the trunk of a nearby tree when she suddenly jumped up, trying to get the larvae out. “Yessir.” Katinka said formally, unsure whether or not that particular shinigami was ranking above her or not, as she quickly grabbed her zanpaktou from the trunk of the tree, sheathing it again. “It was probably also just a stupid idea…” she said to herself, as she left towards the group, which had already started moving. “Hey, Ryujuu-san!” Yuko said while catching up to her. “Five seconds won’t do it. You should do this a lot when we get back to Soul Society.” He tried to convince her. “Yeah whatever. If a bug can disturb my concentration like that, how am I going to find any peace and quiet when I’m not sleeping?” she asked sarcastically. “You try. You fail. And you try again. How the hell would you get better if not that way?” Yuko asked rhetorically and patted her friendly on the back. “You’re not drunk, are you Yuko-san?” she suddenly asked him. “Ehh no?” Yuko said, slightly confused with her question. “Then don’t touch me as if you were. You know what happens, right?” she said with a wry smile, as Yuko snickered, giving her a look of approval.

The patrol seemed to go exactly as planned the rest of the day and with no incidents aside from a bit of drizzle, as they reached a medium sized town later that afternoon. The town seemed to have a lively marketplace with lots of stalls and things happening, and the squad commander seemed as if he was in a good mood, which was probably because his ass was sparkling from all the earlier ass licking the other shinigami had done. “Alright men, we’ll spread out and meet in the town plaza tomorrow morning. Until then, relax, have some fun or get some food!” he said with a big smile, as if he knew he was buying the happiness of his squad. “Hmm… I do have some money, and I do feel kind of hungry.” Katinka said to herself, feeling her stomach growl. “Let’s go get something to eat, I know exactly there the best stalls are!” Yuko suddenly said. “What… aren’t we all..?” she asked as she looked around, seeing as one group was already on its way inside the nearest bar and the rest had gone elsewhere. “I don’t think we will be holding hands and voting for where to go. Come, then I’ll show you a great place to eat!” he said, and was about to lead her on with his hand on her shoulder, when he quickly decided against testing his luck and instead smiled and pointed in the general direction, they were going.

“So what is this place? It’s like the whole street is dedicated to small restaurant stalls?” Katinka remarked, as they strolled down the narrow alley, with busy food stalls on both sides and lots of people eating. “It is. They call it “Ramen-street” because… well I think you know!” he said and winked, as she glanced around at all the ramen stalls. “Actually rumor has it, that the food they make here is so good, that many nobles in this area sneak into town dressed as peasants only to eat here once in while!” Yuko said, as Katinka looked around with amazement. “Whoa, that’s really something! I’ve never tasted the food the noble eat, only heard rumors of its deliciousness, so for this to be even better..!” she said, as her stomach once again started to growl. “Naaah, I’m just kidding! But the food they do here is famous for its quality and you even get it for a fair price!” he said and pointed at a vacant spot. “Hey, let’s sit down over there!” he said, and looked at Katinka, only she was not there.

“… thanks! And then let me have some of that and two of that and… oooh, what’s that? One of those then!” she said, well on her way to ordering the entire menu in the stall. “Wait a moment, Katinka, you can’t just sit down here, there’s only room for you!” Yuko complained loudly. “Too bad, I was too hungry to wait and your lies about nobles and their food made me more hungry anyway.” She said, deeply focused on stuffing food inside her mouth, currently doing three plates at the same time. “But… there are two vacant spots over there?!?” Yuko whimpered. “Nope, I’m not getting up from here, this is delicious!” She said with food in her mouth and a wide grin, as Yuko stiffened his lips. “Alright then…” he said determined and looked and the middle aged peasant sitting besides Katinka, having finished his small bottle of rice long ago, but looking too lazy to move. “Sorry mister, but if you want to chill out, I see two spots over there!” he said and grabbed the man’s collar from behind and dragged him down from the bench, pushing him in the direction of the other stall, as the man staggered away, surprised by the rather rough treatment, but obviously not prepared to duke it out with a shinigami like Yuko. “So, looks like I’m lucky and that guy needed a walk to burn some calories!” he said with a smile. “Yeah, you threw him away. The choice stood between cutting calories and cutting limbs, as far as he was concerned.” Katinka said casually, with a hint of sarcasm, trying to do a crooked smile, though her stuffed mouth could hardly contain the rice balls at the same time.

“So will you be paying for that guy’s meals?” the guy behind the counter asked Yuko, who looked at him surprised and then back at the other stall. “No… I… ehm… Dammit he’s gone! Meals? How many?” Yuko asked the chef. “Nine. He used to be city champion in eating dumplings.” The chef said. “Whaaat? How… But…!” Yuko said, trying to wriggle his way out of this situation. “Well, you sent him away and now he’s probably not coming back again in the future. I hope you’re going to pay and order something more expensive than just a ball of rice.” The chef said, almost demandingly. “Alright, alright! Then let me have what she’s having. But only one of each!” Yuko added, seeing as how there were already five balls of rice in front of her, and she was well on her way to finishing them all. “Mwore soya, pwease!” she said, seemingly not caring to swallow all her food before taking a bit of the next dish

“Bwuaahh!! That was nice!” Katinka said, feeling as if she hadn’t had possibility to stuff herself like this for ages. Normally it was only when her granny made her famous stew, that she ate this much, but she hadn’t had an opportunity to visit her lately. Well… she didn’t want to visit her right now, as she wasn’t really climbing the career ladder as expected, and she knew how her granny would ask her about and sound disappointed when hearing she was still at the same place. At one time during a visit, she told her granny that she had been moved to another squad, and Katinka’s granny had celebrated her new position as captain for five minutes, before Katinka managed to intrude and tell her that it only meant she was going to going to another squad and might have better luck over there. Her granny answered “Good for you then.” and started cooking again, as she had the habit of doing, when she was gravely disappointed.

For a moment Katinka felt sad thinking of that, though she still missed her granny and grandfather who had always remained positive and upbeat about her chances of obtaining a seated position in Gotei 13, though nothing had happened in a long time, that would indicate she was going to become more than a normal rank and file shinigami, destined to serve the rest of her life, seeing young, ambitious shinigami overtake her and claim what she had wanted all her life. Well… that was her deep fear, but of course the battle was far from over yet, and when she at some point would get her shikai and bankai, then people – and granny – would respect her! She thought, clenching her fist in a victorious manner, realizing she had probably just lived the entire story through her facial and body expressions, Yuko sitting right beside her, looking like her was wondering what was up with that girl. “Ehh… well, a little pre-gymnastics before we leave! Now let’s leave!” she said, quickly getting up from the bench, pretending that was all on purpose. “Dammit, Katinka! You got to learn not reveal every damn emotion inside you when you think..!” she mumbled to herself, when Yuko caught up to her.

"Where are you going now?" Yuko asked her, as she suddenly remembered she had no place to go, as she didn't know this city and part of Rukongai. "Ehh… I don't know? Maybe I'm just going to look around?" she asked rather arrogantly, not too happy that he was pulling the rug under her every time she was day dreaming. "Well, then I know the perfect place to look around in. The hot baths!" he said with a wide grin on his face, pointing to a large red house with many, different colored lanterns, she was just able to spot at the end of street. "The hot baths… I..?" Katinka said reluctantly, though she actually did feel like a bath would be nice. Something like wasn't common on shinigami patrols she had heard, but being asked just like that by a man? "Maybe… I guess... there's gender separation right?" Katinka asked skeptically. "Sure, sure! It's a very decent place and the best in town! If you don't like drinking or gambling, this is the place to be in the evening, enjoying the chill in the air, but being able to let the warm water massage every inch of your body!" Yuko said with a dreamy look, hugging himself, before he Katinka grabbed his arm dragging him along. "Alright, you've talked me into it! Let's go!" she said determined, with Yuko seeming very surprised by her sudden change of opinion on the matter.

Katinka tip-toed her way out to the basin, where she quickly slid her body into the water, which almost felt like burning hot lava, coming right from the chilly air. As Katinka lay there, she observed the thick steam continuously rising from the pond and listened to the distant noise from the busy food street in the background. "Seems like I'm the only one here…" she whispered and pulled her body further down under the water, leaving only nose and eyes above the surface. The temperature of the water slowly became much more comfortable and for a while she forgot everything about the life of shinigami and ambitions of captaincy, and just let the water rinse her soul while closing her eyes. "So… will you be staying here for a long time?" a sweet, but trembling voice asked her a couple of meters away, as she quickly snapped out of her dreams and popped her mouth up over the surface again. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't see that there were someone else here!" Katinka quickly apologized, seeing an old lady sitting looking at her with friendly but firm eyes and grey, curly hair. "No need to apologize, as I was the one addressing you. Also I just came here, so your observation wasn't all that off last time you had your eyes open." she said with a warm voice that would make even butter melt.

The old lady stared at Katinka for a while, seemingly pondering something. "I'm afraid to ask, so please bear with me." she said suddenly. "Oh, please don't hold back..!" Katinka said, not wanting the sweet old lady to feel uncomfortable. "Well… it's just that I saw that katana inside the locker room. You're a shinigami right?" she asked, still maintaining the same warm and caring voice as before. "Yes, I certainly am..?" Katinka said, slightly surprised by the nature of her question. "Then you must know about The Watchers residing in this town, right?" the old lady said, as she muffled her voice and moved closer to Katinka. "Mmhh… no? If there are any lurkers trying to peek into the girl's section, I'll..!" Katinka exclaimed and frantically looked around, clenching her fist. "No dear… not those kind of watchers. I'm talking about the watchers who look out for this city. The Tengan family." she said, now speaking a bit more slowly than before. "Tengan family? I've never heard about them?" Katinka said as she frowned. "Although they are acting like a noble family on every account, they aren't a noble family and one might say they are hardly a family bound by blood." she said cryptically.

"Why are you telling me this?" Katinka said, becoming slightly mistrusting towards this very talkative old lady. "I only tell you this, because they don't show shinigami the same respect as real noble families would, and you should watch your back, as they are a rather unpredictable bunch. You recognize them by their colored clothes, and their establishments with the many multi colored lanterns outside." the old lady said, as she dragged herself out of the pond, walking back into the dressing room. Katinka's heart suddenly started to beat faster, as she thought about Yuko's safety. Sure they were many shinigami in town, but they were also all over the place and she thought it might be smarter to stick together. "Dammit! Why didn't you say anything, Yuko! You said you knew this town!" she swore, as she dragged herself out of the hot bath, hurrying into the dressing room, almost jumping into the shihakusho, scouting for her zanpaktou. "Where is… my zanpaktou..?" she suddenly asked herself, as she noticed a slight laughter from behind a room dividing wall. "Ahh, I think you left it outside in the alley way…" the mocking voice commented.

“Who is that..?!?” she burst out looking around before a tall guy in a bright green, silk yukata with a pompadour appeared from behind room divider. “I promise the little miss shinigami, that I haven’t been peeking at all.” He said mockingly. “Tell me right away what you did with my zanpaktou!” Katinka demanded and pointed her finger at him. “Woah, woah, woah! Little misses shouldn’t be pointing their fingers at their elders…” he said, faking an attitude while looking at her condescendingly. “Why don’t you take a look outside? I’ve already told you this once?” He said folding his arms and casually leaning against the screen wall with a faint, wry smile, as Katinka wasted no time, rushing outside frantically looking around, only seeing two more suspicious types; one with a yellow yukata and dragon patterns and one with a blue yukata containing flower patterns. “Where is my zanpaktou?!?” Katinka asked threatening them, though her presence didn’t seem to frighten them very much. “Dammit stupid idiots, if they knew how I handled drunks inside Seireitei, they wouldn’t be messing with me..!” she mumbled, as their reactions were a slight chuckle, before the one in the yellow yukata turned to Katinka.

“Oh, the word spread so quickly! As soon as we found out miss shinigami had lost her zanpaktou, me and my partner here immediately started looking all over the alleyway! But alas, we weren’t able to find as much as a spoon..!” he said pretending to be very upset, as Katinka frowned and clenched her fists. That old lady was right, these guys had no respect for shinigami, but calling them nobles would be too farfetched. Something like “gang” would be more suited, and presumably a rich gang, judging from their clothes. “Alright, you don’t leave me any choice, I will..!” Katinka said, planning to give them a nice ass wooping, as the door to the men’s section sprung up and Yuko jumped out. “Ahh, there’s my friend. Now why don’t you show them what a zanpaktou looks like, so they’re better able to find them, Yuko?” Katinka said and crossed her arms triumphantly, knowing that this little skirmish would be over as soon as Yuko drew his zanpaktou.

“Where the f*** is my zanpaktou?!?” Yuko exclaimed, not even noticing Katinka’s words, as he looked around. “Some girl in there said it was out here! Did you see it, Ryujuu-san??? Shit, the squad leader will kill me if I lose it! No wait… I think I would die with shame before that could happen…”he said and stopped to ponder what might happen, if he lost his zanpaktou and had to admit it to the hated squad commander. “Don’t be kidding me! Don’t say they’ve taken yours too?!?” Katinka said angrily. “Wait? What? Did you lose it too? Then I guess I’m not totally alone with being at fault.” Yuko said relaxing a bit. “Dammit! You’re supposed to be the experienced one!” Katinka said, wanting to give Yuko all the blame for what had happened. “Now, now, no reason to get upset you two. The Tengan family is here to help, so why don’t you two meet us at our headquarters for a bottle of sake… and a talk about what you can do for us?” an enthralling woman’s voice said, before a tall, curvy woman with long, wavy brown hair and a red kimono stepped out from the same door Yuko had exited from a moment ago. “Seriously...? Hot baths..?” Katinka said and looked at skeptically at Yuko with her arms crossed. “Hey I swear I just wanted a bath, and when I finished that mean lady said someone had thrown my zanpaktou outside in the alley. But hey..! You know what? I think she’s lying..!” Yuko said and whispered to Katinka. “You don’t say?” Katinka said and nodded politely, thinking Yuko might have fell on the wet floor and hit his head before coming out here. “Come pay us a visit. You’ll find out where we live by asking around, I presume.” the lady said with a crooked smile and left, with the three guys following her tracks, scowling at them.

“Fuck this! I feel like beating them up right now..!” Katinka exclaimed and was about to jump at them before they turned around the corner, but was held back by Yuko, who looked at her seriously. “Not now, not here. They are everywhere, and if we start something, we might endanger the others.” Yuko said reluctantly. “What..? But I thought you didn’t care about the others? Come on lets..!” Katinka said, but was interrupted by a stern face from Yuko. “No! You might not like your team, but they are your closest allies in any confrontation, and the one you might sacrifice for such a selfish act, might be the one missing when your ass need saving some other time. Remember that.” Yuko said, as Katinka looked at him, almost with awe over the wisdom he seemed to possess. “And also they seem strong. Not a good combination.” Yuko said and made weighing motions with his hands, as Katinka thought this might be the real reason why he didn’t want to confront them head on. “So..? We just go to their place and let them have their way with us?” Katinka asked, crossing her arms. “Of course not. I have a better plan…” Yuko said and revealed a malicious smile normally only seen when looking upon the mask of a hollow. “Ain’t nobody getting old Yuko to die of shame..!” he said chuckling slightly, as Katinka looked at him wondering what he had in mind.

“So… do we sneak in, steal our zanpaktou and save the town from this “family”? Katinka asked curiously. “Nope. We go there and ask for our zanpaktou back… and then we see what happens…” Yuko said, the second part of the sentence foreshadowing something happening. “I really, really hope you have something planned, because this seems a bit reckless…” Katinka remarked reluctantly as they went in the same direction as the woman and the three guys had gone. “Don’t worry, I know Rukungai scammers like that better than they know themselves.” He said confidently. “Yep. You sure seemed well informed about their presence here in this city…” Katinka said sarcastically and rolled her eyes. “That’s because you haven’t seen the brilliance of my plan yet! Just you wait!” Yuko said angrily and started walking faster while sticking his nose in the air and crossing his arms, as Katinka rolled her eyes even more. “Men and their pride…” she mumbled, right as she saw a large, five stories tall traditional looking Japanese building with plenty of multi colored lanterns hanging on the outside of the building, with a tall stone wall and an iron gate encircling it. “Here it goes…” Katinka said to herself, feeling how her heart starting to race.

“Hey, who are you?” one of the scruffy looking guards with rusty axe in his belt asked the two. Katinka reckoned she could have put him to the ground before he finished his sentence, but chose not to because that might ruin whatever plan Yuko had – if he had one. “Don’t worry, that’s just our guests!” the guy with the green yukata and pompadour said, popping his head out of one of the lower windows of the mansion, sounding a bit too welcoming. “… you know quite well we had to come here…” Katinka mumbled, as the guard scowled at her, while letting them inside. As they entered the door, they were let into the main room, which was more or less covered by silk and other kinds of expensive cloth in many different colors, hanging from the wall, and event he tatami mats being covered by multi colored cloth. In the middle of the room and between them and a figure seemingly sitting on the other side drinking sake on a bunch of pillows a large piece of almost translucent sheet of red silk was hanging from wall to wall, and Katinka noticed a blonde guy bowing deeply on his knees towards the figure behind the red sheet of silk.

“Please, I need it back! My squad and I will be out of your town by tomorrow morning, but I cannot leave without it! I need my zanpaktou to lead!” the guy said sobbing, as Katinka noticed the shihakusho. “Squad… commander..?” Katinka whispered halfway in despair, but also with a hint of feeling that he was getting what was coming to him. “Yuno..?!?” Yuko asked surprised at seeing the squad commander on his knees. “Nii-sama..?” the squad commander answered, looking like a frightened deer, and before Katinka had realized the words coming from the squad commander’s mouth, they were in each other’s throats immediately. “I told you never to call me that again since you abandoned me..!” Yuko exclaimed wrestling Yuno’s collar. “You can’t just forget family when it’s convenient, brother..!” the squad commander yelled, trying to regain the upper hand in the wrestling bout, as Yuko was both taller and seemingly also stronger.

Katinka had seen this scene enacted so many times before, she could almost yawn. The number of drunk shinigami she had to pacify when fighting over petty things was too high for her to count, and instinctively she grabbed both Yuko and Yuno at the back of their collars and pulled them downwards on their backs as strongly as she could, putting all her intent behind it, causing them both to hit the floor almost paralyzed by what had happened. “Act. Fucking. Nice. To each other!” Katinka said in a way that could not be misunderstood at all, the squad commander looking baffled at being put in his place by a rookie and Yuko baffled by that small girls being able to cast him to the ground like that. For s short moment she studied their baffled faces, considering how, if not for their hair color, they did have sort of the same facial features, though Yuko's were more elongated and rough, whereas Yuno's were more soft, his skin looking almost tender like that of a noble.

But before Katinka got to think further, she snapped out of it hearing the voice of a young man behind the red curtain addressing her. "Sheesh, you shinigami sure are a fighty bunch. What am I going to do about you, if you don't want to hear me out?" he asked as Katinka stepped over to the red curtain, sitting down. "You could give us back the zanpaktou you sto.. ehrm, which are in your posession." Katinka said, trying to act polite, though she admittedly didn't really think it would work. "Hrpmf… I don't think I said something about just doing that, but if you do a job for me I probably will." he said reluctantly, as Katinka saw the figure bringing the bottle back up to his mouth. "Tell me… what do you have against shinigami since you humiliate us by taking our zanpaktou?" Katinka asked firmly, wanting to know a bit more about why they had been targeted like that and if his word could be considered reliable. "Dunno… it's kind of a tradition and I need a job done sooo…" he said and took another sip from the bottle. "What are you saying?!?" Katinka exclaimed, leaning forward, agitated by the disinterested answer she got.

"Well… it's just as I said. It's tradition, but every time I get shinigami up here they act all high and mighty, so I send them out on very humble jobs, and if they get it right, I have no qualms about letting them go. But the world is not always that simple I experienced…" he sid and let out a burp, throwing the bottle away with a loud ´klonk´ as it hit the tatami floor. "So don't worry, any person in this town could do this job, so how do you feel about delivering a letter?" he asked. "Are you serious? We deliver a letter and then we get our zanpaktou back?" Katinka asked surprised by the apparently simple job. "Yep, that's exactly what I said. Now get going and don't fail." he said, as the guy in the yellow yukata received a letter from the guy behind the curtain and approached Katinka handing her a sealed letter. "Go to this adress." he said and handed her a written address and rough map over the town. "Well, since I'm STILL the squad commander, I should take this!" Yuno said and snatched the map and letter out of Katinka's hands. "Ehh… yessir." Katinka said, feeling a bit guilty for having pulled him, her superior officer, to the grown just before, as he signaled for them to leave.

"Alright, let's get one thing straight. This whole episode stays between us and ONLY us. Understood?" he said and turned towards Katinka and Yuko. "Yes!" Katinka said, instinctively reacting on her superior's orders. "… and?" Yuko said casually with his arms crossed and a wide grin. "What do you mean by "and", brother?" The squad commander asked, clearly not in the mood for pleasantries, though Yuko didn't seem to mind. "Aaand you'll promote me to vice squad commander along with my friend here, right? Oh yeah, and you regain the privilege of calling me "brother", how does that sound?" Yuko asked provocatively. "Have you eaten particularly many nails this evening, brother? And besides I'll call you brother, exactly when I feel like it, brother!" he said and turned around starting to navigate towards the target on the map. "Pfff… you're such a stale dud sometimes…" Yuko mumbled and reluctantly followed his brother.

They walked for some time, Katinka trying to shape the question just right, before she looked at him and made the jump. "So… you're his brother. Since when?" she asked, and immediately regretting her stupid way of putting it. "Since birth. Are you daft?" he asked looking at Katinka as if he really didn't like her asking about his brother. "Well… no… hey don't say that! I just wanted to know what had happened between you two!" Katinka said, not content with his attitude. "I already revealed that, didn't I? The dumb guy felt he was worth too much when attained shikai and became squad commander." Yuko said, looking like he was walking with a thunder cloud hovering above his head. "That's… really a lame explanation…" Katinka said to herself, feeling as if she wouldn't get more out of him yet.

"Ahhh, there we have it! Thanks to my excellent leadership skills we found the right address, and soon we will get our zanpaktou back!" he said proud, looking like someone waiting only for an applause. "Okay… Your explanation might be pretty spot on anyway…" Katinka mumbled to Yuko who gave her a "you're damn right" look, before suddenly the door to the house behind Yuno smacked open, and a man which could very well be Katinka's worst nightmare as a night watch stepped out and grabbed Yuno by the throat from behind, lifting him a full meter over the ground, so his head reached same height as his own. This man was a mountain, towering way over even Yuko, who was the tallest of them, and his muscles were like that of a bull’s, with a stern look that was seemingly devoid of any kind of mercy.

Katinka didn't act swiftly as she usually did, seeing how the squad commander tried to wriggle himself free, getting strangled by the enormous man's hand around his neck. But Katinka knew she had to do something, and rushed towards the guy doing a hard sideways kick towards the guy's shin, putting every last ounce of her body weight into the kick. "What..? Nothing?!?" she exclaimed surprised, as the man didn't budge as much as a centimeter from being kicked a place, which had never before failed to get a man to let go of another. "I'm not interested, go away you little fly." the large man grumbled as she stepped back a couple of steps instinctively, knowing this man possessed titanic strength and might not even feel pain, but suddenly she felt Yuko's reiatsu rise drastically as he pointed his finger at the monstrous man. "Drop my brother or I will give you an oversized piercing through the head!" Yuko threatened, as Katinka saw the blue reiatsu gathering at the point of the finger, as he looked determined to actually take out this guy with kido if needed be. But the king kong guy only snorted and tightened his grip around the neck of Yuno, who was already almost blue in his face, and was starting to look increasingly limb.

What the hell was this guy? Didn't he recognize a death threat when he saw it… or did he really think he could take a hado 4 and live? And could he..? All these thoughts went through Katinka's head as bolts of lighting, as suddenly an old, short lady stepped out of the very same door and looked up at the huge guy. "You can release him now, Senzo." she said calmly with her cane tapping down into the ground. The large man nodded quietly and let Yuno fall down, as he hit the ground coughing and gasping for air and Yuko lowered his finger, seemingly cancelling the hado, though still keeping a sharp eye on the beast of a man. "And what do you want?" the old lady asked skeptically, looking at them through her square glasses, with a look that seemed to pry open their intentions, taking great pleasure in exposing them. "You don't have to be scared old lady, we are only here to deliver a letter!" Katinka said formally, grabbing the letter that the still gasping Yuno had dropped when being grabbed, and handed it to the lady, who reluctantly accepted the sealed letter. "Do I look scared, girl?" she asked and squinted. "N… no lady.." Katinka said surprised by her hostility. "Good, then don't tell me what to feel, right? And by the way, I know your intentions, which is why a tried to have you killed, though it failed." she said and looked at the seal before throwing it over her shoulder.

"Woah, shouldn't you read it before you throw it away..?" Katinka asked her, fearing they might fail the task, if she didn't accept to at least read the letter. "Doesn't interest me. I know who it's from, and I already told my stupid son that I will not accept an apology from him under any circumstances." she said and turned around, heading inside again. "Wait!" Yuko said, apparently thinking exactly the same as Katinka regarding failure and success of their task. "We came all this way, so surely you can't just send us away again like that. I guess we're not the first shinigami you've encountered like this and thus you probably know, that we are not his lackeys." Yuko said, making her stop and turn around. "This is a small matter for you but important to us, so please read the letter!" he said and bowed to her. "If you weren't a freaking shinigami, I would have said that I liked you. But since you're a despicable, rotten shinigami, I will just commend you for your guts, though you know nothing of who you are facing. Not like “deflated balloon” or “scared kitten” here…" she said and scoffed at Yuno and Katinka.

"Very well, I will read the damn letter. To be honest, I was being pretty curious to what he was writing all this time…" she said and picked up the letter, opening it. Suddenly her eyes opened wide and her lips pursed. "We should go, Senzo. And you should follow me!" she said sternly, not leaving room for them to decide for themselves. "Not a lady you would say not to…" Katinka remarked, as Yuko nodded slightly, glancing as Yuno, who had gotten up and was still clearing his throat, while trying to keep up. "Oh yeah, and by the way you called the squad commander for "brother". What am I supposed to make of that?" Katinka asked cheekishly, with her schoolgirl voice, she knew he hated so much. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing!" Yuko said and looked annoyed at her questions about his brother, as Katinka smiled crookedly, feeling as if she just needed a couple of more provocations before he would start to talk… or yell. Whatever he did, she was just curious to know more about what had happened between them.

But as they continued through the village, Katinka saw how the people, event he drunk ones, stopped what they were doing and looked at the group. First she thought it was the bear of a man following the old lady, but the more she traced their looks and glances, she noticed they were looking at the old lady. Was she anyone special besides being mother to a spoiled kleptomaniac? As they approached the iron gate, the guard in front of it simply froze as the giant man curled together the iron gate as if it was made by rice paper, as the old lady casually strolled inside not leaving the guard a single glance.

"So, Juin-kun, are you still hiding your drinking habits behind the cover of that red curtain? Why don’t you come out and look your own mother in the eyes?" she asked commandingly, as she stepped into the hall where they had met him the first time. "I think it is wise that we keep in the background for now…" Yuko said, placing his hand on Katinka's shoulder. "I know that..!" she said annoyed, and brushed of his hand, observing how the figure behind the red curtain stepped forward and had his guard pull it open, revealing a young man in his late teens with a purple yukata made of fine silk, with sleeves slightly too long of him. "I didn't think you would come, mother. If I had, I would have had the guards dust of the coffins, should you decide to stay for the night." he said sarcastically though keeping his voice cold and distanced. "Your brother would have never addressed his mother like that!" she scoffed and looked at him with disdain. "Are you… really my mother? The last few years I have tried to get in contact with you, but since my brother's death, you have abandoned both our family and me. So tell me, are you my mother still?!?" the young man said, raising his voice, sounding as if he had been hurt badly.

The old woman paused and looked down. "Your letter… What you have written in it, is it true? Is it true that you blame me for his death? For then you're a fool!" she said angrily. "Every word! For too long have a used the bottle to conceal my guilt for not being able to save him, but then I remembered that you were his mother, and not me! You were the one supposed to teach him not to become too arrogant. And you know… the shinigami killing him… I believe he was right to do so!!!" the young man in the purple yukata shouted at the old lady. "How can you say that, while wearing your deceased brother’s yukata! Shinigami are bloodthirsty villains and should receive no respect after what they did to him!" she yelled back, punching her cane down into the tatami, as the young man became silent again. "No mother. He taunted and provoked a seated officer and humiliated his men in front of him. I was there too, you know? I couldn't save my brother even if I wanted to, and I'm not even sure I would have, if I could have. My brother stretched his luck and it snapped, and I know now, that such grudges are not the way to go. No, please leave me mother and don't come back before you are ready to face reality!" he said sternly, as the old lady turned around abruptly and left with fast steps, with her gigantic bodyguard following her and Katinka hurried out of her way.

"I'm sorry. Please accept my apologies, but when I saw your two friends going at each other’s throats I finally saw what brotherhood was all about. My earlier letters have been apologies for what I thought was my sin, but I realized that having a brother is not about preventing the other guy from making mistakes, but about being brave enough to tell him when he made one." the young man said and bowed, before signaling to his henchman. "Here, this is your zanpaktou. I promise there will be no more trouble from me. May your journey bring you fortune." he said and smiled faintly. "Thank you very much!" Katinka said and bowed back, having already forgot their troubles he made for them and her anger, just feeling happy to get her zanpaktou back. If she were ever to achieve shikai, she needed one of these, and for the first time she felt appreciation for her zanpaktou as being something else than just a cutting tool.

 

[Zanjutsu]

Squeezing Tightly, Falling Lightly

Later that night Katinka had found a room to stay in for the night, thinking she was looking immensely forward to leaving this little town again, not being overly sure that the conflict between mother and son had ended yet.
“So… you know, I don’t really believe it, but you’re the best bet I have if I’m going to become a seated officer sometime in the future. So why don’t you reveal to me how to wake you up or something?” she said, looking at her sheathed zanpaktou, she had placed at her bed, while sitting next to it. “Oh, so you don’t want to answer, is that it? Maybe I’m just going to pour that zanpaktou spirit out of you like this?!?” she said angrily, trying to shake it like a bottle of ketchup, before giving up with a sigh. “… who am I kidding talking to a piece of metal? Doing shikai is probably something which will allude me forever making me stuck with splitting up drunks and brothers with communication problems!” she exclaimed and letting her back drop to the ground, looking up into the old wooden roof, with her arms and legs spread out.

“Why don’t you try again..?” a voice asked, as she abruptly sat up again, looking around in the room before fastening her glance on the zanpaktou.
“Could that voice be..?” she said surprised, quickly grabbing the zanpaktou, placing it on her lap and straightening her back exactly as Yuko had told her. “Alright, I’ll try again!” she said determined while closing her eyes. “… but trying what?” she partly asked herself and the voice suggesting it. “I don’t know what to try dammit!” she said frustrated.
“Don’t hang your head so low…” the voice suddenly said again. Now she was sure no one was hiding inside the room, as this voice was definitely something from within her own head.
“What the hell are you saying?!?” she cried out frantically and felt like trying to strangle the sword if it didn’t have such a sharp edge.

“Okay, I’m not having it! I’m coming in there and I’m going to beat you silly!” she said, and once again closed her eyes, intending to try and reach into that elusive place called “the inner world”, that some teacher had once told her about.
“Ryujuu-san!” a voice suddenly cried out, as the door opened and Yuko poked his head inside her room.
“Whaaat!?!” she screamed, immediately on her toes, with her zanpaktou grazing his neck and her heart racing. “I was sooo fucking close..!” she said with murder in her eyes.
“Ahhh… I’m sorry..! I just needed to speak to you..!” Yuko said, surprised at how she had jumped at him with her sword like that.
“Then say it..!” she said, still holding her katana to his throat.
“Please, put that thing away, I’m not about to attack you or anything. Also I’m your senior, and you should really apologize, Ryujuu-san.” Yuko said and carefully brushed her blade away from his throat.
“Oh… yeah… I forget that. Sorry!” she said and bowed for him after sheathing her zanpaktou.
“No fret…” he said casually as he strolled into her room.
“That’s the problem, Yuko-san! You don’t act like a senior at all!” Katinka complained, feeling as if he just pulled a fast one on her.

“But I am, right? And that means I make the calls no matter how I act.” He said with a smug smile.
“Hmpf..”Katinka said and crossed her arms.
“By the way, did you try blade meditation again?” Yuko asked with a wry smile, remembering how she wasn’t too fond of it earlier.
“Yeah… but you kind of ruined it.” She said, feeling good to have someone to blame her mistakes on.
“Me..? If you did it right, you would still be sitting there communicating with your zanpaktou!” he said instructively.
“Yeah, yeah… that’s easy for you to say. By the way, what was it with all the hurry?” Katinka asked and frowned.
“Oh that… hmmm… I think it was because they were serving particularly delicious smelling shrimps just outside my window and I wanted someone to share them with… yeah, that was it I think…” Yuko said and scratched his chin.
“Shrimps? Are you hungry at this hour?” Katinka asked surprised, but also somewhat expecting that kind of thing from Yuko.

“Ahh no..! That wasn’t it, silly me!” he said and shrugged his head chuckling slightly, as Katinka thought what stupid idea it was then. “The other guys have left town to hunt down a hollow sighted in the vicinity, and we should go to. Kind of an emergency thing, you know.” Yuko said casually.
“What?!? Why… why..? Why didn’t you just say that, we have to leave immediately!” Katinka said outraged.
“Woah woah… Have you even fought a hollow before? First of all, you don’t just rush in unless you want to die, and second we are so many shinigami that the hollow probably looks like a porcupine right now as we’re speaking.” Yuko said and yawned slightly.
“Maybe so, but this could be my big chance of a breakthrough!” Katinka said with stars in her eyes and clenching her fists, vividly imagining her triumph and swift rush up through the ranks.
“Yeah yeah, as if one hollow kill would get you anywhere…” Yuko said and crossed his arms.
“Hey, it’s a start!” she said and pointing her finger firmly at him.
“Alright then… I would have preferred the shrimps, but if you want to look at the triumphant face of my brother again, we should go.” Yuko said sarcastically, as Katinka hurried out of the door along with Yuko.

“Where are we going, Yuko-san?” Katinka asked, as they ran through the streets, where most people seemed to be sleeping tightly inside their homes.
“It was sighted at the outskirts of town just at the outer perimeter of the forest we are supposed to proceed into tomorrow. Good thing we kill it now so it won’t surprise us tomorrow!” Yuko said, as Katinka suddenly noticed that his eyes had turned much more focused and serious than before. “Let’s hurry!” he said, as they raced through the streets, finally getting closer to the outskirts of the town, when suddenly it seemed like Yuko had caught the trail of something, and immediately outran Katinka.
“Hey wait! What are you doing?!?” she said, as he disappeared behind the next corner.
“Who are you..?!?” a foul voice suddenly asked her, and as she instantly turned around, she saw a masked monster on the top of one of the buildings, apparently holding a lifeless citizen in his giant hands. “Are you… the next meal?” the hollow asked with a slow, daft voice leaning it’s masked head slightly to one side, and Katinka drew her zanpaktou while fully focused on the dreadful hollow.
“Don’t think you can scare me like that, hollow!” Katinka said determined and widened her stance, while grabbing he zanpaktou tightly with both hands.

“Shit, the spiritual pressure of this hollow is quite something..!” she thought to herself. “Why did Yuko have to outrun me just now and why did I have to say that I wanted to take all the honor myself..!” she said muted, as she regretted her words from earlier. As the hollow held out it’s hand towards Katinka, its three middle fingers suddenly grew with a tremendous haste, as they rushed towards her and shot into the ground as she only just dodged it by a hair’s width by frantically jumping backwards landing on all four, seeing the hollow still sitting on the roof. “How can he be this quick? He didn’t even move?” Katinka said to herself, not letting her eyes off him for a moment.
“Why did you dodge my attack just then? When I can just attack you again?” the dimwitted sounding hollow said, as Katinka noticed the two three fingers still buried into the ground, and promptly understood the fact that that didn’t mean she was safe, and per instinct she leaned her body backwards in just the right moment, as the hollow’s three fingers shot up through the ground in a 45 degree angle having dug itself through the soil, and one of the fingers, which was apparently razor sharp, just grazed her left shoulder as she once again jumped back, falling to her knees as she held her hand on the stricken shoulder looking at the blood pouring out and she cringed by the pain it caused her.

“You put up too much of a fight, young girl. You should really give up, since that would be the most painless way to go for you. Also your low stature makes you soooo difficult to hit!” the hollow complained as she saw how it suddenly raised the other hand towards her.
“Shit..! There’s a limit to how much I can dodge like this!” she exclaimed to herself.
“Fire out, Dragon’s Tail!” she suddenly heard a voice behind her yell, and in that same moment a kind of wire flew right past her and wrapped around the surprised hollow.
“What is this?” it asked, as Katinka saw Yuko behind her.
“That is my Dragon’s Tail, and it has a nasty breath!” he shouted, as suddenly fire shot through the wire and ignited the hollow into a huge roaring bonfire, screaming in agony, as Yuko yanked the wire, and sent it crashing into the nearest house. “Sorry to leave you like that, Ryujuu-san, but that fucker has been putting out reiatsu signatures all over the place to confuse us, so I thought I had a lead on him.” Yuko said and put his zanpaktou over his shoulder. Katinka looked at him and at the zanpaktou. “Dragon’s Tail” was a fitting name for a zanpaktou that looked like his. The wire with the cone shaped metal spike in the end of it had been shot out from the hilt, where it was now back in its place and the wide bladed sword with the elongated hilt and serrated backside looked truly terrifying as it sat on Yuko’s shoulder and Katinka caught her jaw dropping slightly, before she realized and snapped out of it. “Yeah, it’s impressive right?” Yuko said with a wry smile.
“No no, that’s not it… I just…” Katinka tried to explain waving her hand like it was nothing, but was promptly interrupted at sounds of stone fractures being moved aside coming from the house the hollow crashed into.

“I’m not done with you yet! It hurt a little, but that’s what you get sometimes. Life is tough.” The hollow said almost sounding like it was about to give up. But in that same moment two of its fingers shot out towards Yuko, who barely managed to dodge.
“Shit, I didn’t see that coming. How the hell did that **** survive my Dragon’s Tail with fire?” he asked as he jumped over next to Katinka.
“That hollow has an amazing reiatsu, I don’t know what’s up with it.” Katinka answered promptly.
“You’re hurt.” Yuko commented, seeing the blood coming from her left shoulder.
“Not more than I’m still able to fight.” She said determined, biting her lip to suppress the pain.
“You sure about that? This is going to be dangerous, and your already looking pretty beat up. If the fire didn’t get him, we will have to get up close and cut through his damn mask. And most hollows I’ve met didn’t like me getting up close cutting their mask.
“Then that’s what we have to do!” Katinka said determined, but suddenly felt something wrapping tightly around her waist as she was rapidly flung across the street and into a nearby house.
“I’m not interested in you anymore, girl. This guy looks delicious though!” the hollow said and with slow, drowsy steps dragged itself closer to Yuko.
“Are you alright, Ryujuu-san?!?” he yelled, still keeping his eyes on the enemy.
“Yeah, I’m… somewhat okay..!” Katinka said, getting up while feeling her back. She had to admit she felt that, but suddenly as she looked at Yuko, it was as if she was looking at him through binoculars and still fading longer into the distance. Close but yet so far away.

“What… what is happening?” Katinka exclaimed, as she grabbed her head, trying to get a hold of herself, as the rest of the world seemed to fade infinitely long into the distance while she herself was oddly still so close. Suddenly as if she had done nothing but blinking with her eyes, she found herself breathing on the clean mountain air, staring out into the clear horizon from a top of a huge mountain, standing on a rocky spur. Her immediate reaction was to take a quick step back, with her back against the mountain wall, when she found out she only had very scarce footing. “Wh.. what is thiiis?” she exclaimed, as she quickly looked around for something else to hold onto or stand on, but seeming this tiny plateau was the only thing she could stand on a bare rock wall thousands of meters above the ground. “Shit, I know no bakudo able to deal with this piss!” she cursed, but suddenly had to remove all her attention towards a large shadow descending down in front of her, with wings flapping so hard, she felt like the wind pressure itself could keep her against the rock wall even if she had no footing.

“If there is no way to go, you have to take the leap of faith, Katinka!” the loud and shaking voice said in a friendly but determined way. It wasn’t before she had made sure she still had somewhat solid footing she dared to look up, and what she saw was a huge, red eagle hovering no more than 10 meters from her position, which had huge, sharp talons and black markings around its eyes. “Make the jump..!” it urged her.
“What the hell are you saying?!? And who are you! Tell me who you are, right now!” Katinka demanded in a surprising fit of anger and frustration of suddenly teleporting somewhere in the middle of battle.
“I am… … … But you don’t know that yet!” the eagle said as it seemed to ascend a couple of meters higher, while its wings grew even more, now probably twice the size as before and Katinka thought they had to be at least twenty meters long in each direction.

“You have to make the leap, trust me!” the eagle said with a voice which caused the very rocks she was leaning onto to tremble, and she fought hard to remain standing on the tiny plateau.
“But… how the hell can I trust you, when I don’t even know, where I am?!?” she asked frustrated. "I’m not asking you to only trust me, trust yourself and your instincts! Where else will you go from here if not down?” the eagle asked, seemingly become increasingly annoyed with Katinka’s reluctance.
“Well, you could fly me to safety..?” Katinka asked inquiringly, but her voice was quickly drowned in the immense air pressure the grand eagle created, by flapping its wings even harder. “Come on, easy now! I… I guess I’ll do it, but I’m seriously beating you up if you don’t save me before landing on the ground! It’s a trust fall, right?” she asked, but was met with silence. “Alright… here goes…!” she said, as she gently leaned herself over the edge and watched as she was able to spot something green in the far distance below. “Shiiit!” she exclaimed as her body weight had taken her beyond the point of no return.

Katinka let out a pathetic little girlish scream as she let her body fall, but rather than a long fall, her small scream was immediately muffled by the taste of dirt and grass in her mouth, her face and body having dug itself into a spot of mushy grass. She immediately put her hands in the ground and pushed herself up, looking around seeing nothing but grass, trees, blue sky and distant mountains, while she spat out a bit of soil and grass.
“Not very far, was it?” a small voice commented, as she saw a bird a couple of meters in front of her, no larger than a hand.
“Was..? Are… you the same as the one before?” she asked, as she looked more closely, seeing that it was in fact the exact same eagle having seemed to large right before, now just sitting there with it’s almost squeaky voice, looking like a blackbird. Well, besides the color.
“It is me, but I am not the same as before, because now you know my name, and that makes all the difference.” The small eagle said, as something suddenly seemed to pop up in Katinka’s head, making her realize, that this was in fact true.
“That’s right… you are… my zanpaktou spirit and your name is… Half Step! Yesss! Promotion here I come!” Katinka yelled gleefully and clenched her fists, doing a small victory dance.

“Heh… That’s right.” The bird chuckled. “But first there’s an opponent you must defeat and first then can we take the fight to the brass of Seireitei and finally claim captaincy!” the bird exclaimed evne more enthusiastically than Katinka and held one wing up as to signal a high five. “High feather, Katinka!” it said, and Katinka immediately made her palm meet the small eagle’s wings.
“Way to go..!” Katinka said, and just as her palm made contact with the eagle’s wing, she found herself back at the very place and at the very moment she had left, what was seemingly her inner world, watching as the hollow suddenly burst out even more fingers, now counting at least thirty of them, and Yuko clenching his zanpaktou tightly, but looking far from confident as the hollow aimed at him.
“Now you must learn to pay for your sins!” the hollow said with its drowsy voice, as Katinka knew she had to do something immediately, or Yuko would get killed. There was no way he could dodge that many simultaneous attacks coming at him with that speed.

Just as the hollow unleashed the attack, Katinka held her sword up in front of her and released as much reiatsu she was able to. “Don’t think you will get away with that! Throw off, Half Step!” she chanted, as her katana transformed into a semi spear with a elongated arrow formed tip and two straight, wavy blades protruding to each side underneath the tip, coupled with three red feathers attached where the blades cross and tail feathers in the same color in the end of the spear, standing about 220 cm long. And just as she released, she shunpo’ed towards the hollow, focusing her ability on his attack, slightly throwing off the hollow’s timing in its attack, causing Yuko to just slightly be able to dodge the hollow’s attack, jumping away from the thirty finger attack, which penetrated the ground right beside him. Katinka, who had now shunpoed up besides the hollow, thrusted her spear at the thirty fingers so the lower horizontal blade cut right through every last finger, before the tip hit the wall of the house, the hollow stood right next to, and it let out a surprised howl in agony.

“What..? How did he manage to dodge my attack and what is it with your sword?!?” the hollow asked dumbfounded.
“You don’t need to know, because I’m not done with you yet!” Katinka shouted, as she turned her body and spear in unison, and by once again focusing her ability to throw of the timing of her enemy at the hollow, it didn’t have time to dodge, and the tip of the spear slashed through the stomach area of the hollow, throwing it several meters backwards, the force from the cut causing it to do a couple of tumbles before it regained footing and got up again.
“Katinka..! What the hell is that?!?” Yuko asked, as he run over to her. “Did you just..?” Yuko asked with a wry smile, as he knew what that meant and Katinka smiled back.
“Yeah, I guess this is my shikai. But you don’t have time to marvel over it right now or regret the fact that I’m going to overtake you in terms of gaining an officer’s seat, because I don’t think that guy is quite done yet!” Katinka said and turned attention to the hollow, which for the first time actually looked angry.

“You wounded me! I’m bleeding!” it said, as it looked at the blood pouring out from the large cut across the stomach.
“What a monster, it’s just standing there looking at its own blood unfazed. We need to hit it with everything we’ve got, Ryujuu-san. Tell me what your zanpaktou do, and we will devise a strategy from that.” Yuko said, as Katinka quickly nodded.
“My zanpaktou is able to throw of the timing of the opponent, and thereby creating an opening… or being able to dodge an attack which would have otherwise hit you. And killed you.” Katinka said, as she looked at Yuko with a hinting smile, though she tried to hide the fact that she actually cared about him being dead or alive.
“I see. You have my thanks, I much prefer being alive and I probably wouldn’t have been, if you hadn’t interfered. And I think your ability is just what we need. If you let me attack first, then block his next attack, then I’ll attack him immediately after if you just make sure his timing is off, okay?” Yuko asked, and looked at Katinka as if he just wanted to be sure she actually could do what she claimed to do.
“No problem!” Katinka said firmly, as she moved in behind him.

“This is it, hollow! You’re on your dying breath, and this time my fire will surely roast you!” Yuko yelled at the hollow to catch his attention. “Not too obvious, dammit!” Katinka whispered and gave him the look.
“Fuck off..! I never claimed to be an actor..!” Yuko replied out of the side of his mouth, while he fired out the spiked wire from the hilt of his zanpaktou, though the hollow easily dodged that attack by turning its head to his right.
“Haha! That’s really a slow ass attack! Leagues from how fast my toes shoot out!” he yelled, as his ten clawed toes suddenly shot out at Yuko, but before they could hit him, Katinka had jumped over Yuko, and with a downwards strike, she slammed the ten piercing toes into the ground holding them fixed with her spear.
“This is it, Yuko..!” she said, as Yuko nodded.
“That first attack… wasn’t to hit you, but to attach my Dragon’s Tail to the house behind you!” Yuko yelled to the surprised hollow, as he grabbed the zanpaktou with both hands, and by reeling in the wire, he shot himself towards the hollow and covered the distance between them faster than he could move himself.
“Shit..! Why can’t I react!” the hollow shouted frustrated as Yuko had eased the reeling in, and jumped right at the hollow with a vertical slash, putting all his power into it.
“Die, scumbag!!!” he yelled, as he cleaved the mask and half the torso, before the hollow quickly disintegrated.

“Phew… that was a close one huh?” Yuko said and turned around facing Katinka.
“Ahh… yeah… pretty close..!” Katinka said, as sweat ran down her forehead and she dropped her spear before falling down to her knees, as one of the last attacks had hit her and almost pierced her left thigh all the way through.
“Shit, are you alright?!?” Yuko said distressed, as he ran towards her.
“Yeah… somewhat I think. I guess I have to learn to control it a bit more.” Katinka said, trying to excuse her being hit. In truth she hadn’t used her ability to block the hollow’s attack, because she knew the timing of Yuko’s last attack wasn’t allowed to fail, and thus she chose to use every bit of focus on that, partly sacrificing her own safety for his. “Sorry that I failed.” Katinka said, feeling as if she didn’t do enough, as she had been able to fight on if that last slash hadn’t killed the hollow.
“Hah! You call that failing! You rocked!” Yuko said with a wide grin and messed up her hair with his palm, which actually made Katinka feel a lot better with herself.

“Yuko-san! Rukjo-san!” a shinigami yelled, as he and two others came running towards the two.
“It’s Ryukjuu-san… oh whatever!” Katinka said, as she didn’t care to lecture the two shinigami in properly addressing her.
“Are you alright?!?” the first one asked, seeing the wounded Katinka and general mess around them. “At first there were hollow reiatsu everywhere, before we felt an even more powerful one over here and came as quickly as possible!” the other shinigami said.
“Yeah, I guess you two did your very fucking best. Now can you two brave shinigami help me patch up Ryukjuu-san and carrying her back to the hotel room?” Yuko asked firmly and rather sarcastic, probably thinking that the two shinigami were hiding until the battle had concluded. But nevertheless they complied and helped carry Katinka back to the hotel room. When they got back and put Katinka on the bed, Yuko turned around and faced her right before he was about to leave. “You just relax now. You won’t be able to walk for a couple of days, so I sent for someone to fetch a stretcher. I’m just having a word with my brother now, and I’m sure we will head back to Seireitei now. Oh… and by the way. If you want to use the extra time given to you to communicate with you zanpaktou… tell him thanks.” Yuko said and smiled before he closed the door.

“This stretcher is not very comfortable!” Katinka complained, as morning had come and she was lifted up up by Yuko in the back and another shinigami in the front.
“Quit your complaining, this was the best we could do. I don’t suppose you’d rather want to walk, right?” Yuko asked rhetorically.
“Uhm… no. But Soul Society is just so far away!” Katinka said and crossed her arms, though doing that made her feel the pain in her shoulder.
“Why don’t you write in your diary or some shit?” Yuko suggested sarcastically.
“Hey, I should write to granny!” Katinka exclaimed and pulled out pen and paper from her shihakusho.
“You’re gonna’ write about how that hollow kicked your ass and how your squad now carries you around like a half dead sack of potatoes?” Yuko asked with a crooked smile.
“No such thing as that! And besides, I didn’t think you cared. So why don’t you start carrying instead of caring?” Katinka said, as she put the pencil to the paper.
“Alright sure… but tell me… how the hell are you going to write with no ink?” he asked, looking at the pencil.
“Oh, your world view really is stuck in the dark ages! This, my friend, is a pencil, something they use in the real world and I actually found a store in Seireitei which sells. It uses a grey material that rubs off on the paper and doesn’t splatter. Really smart, but then again I wouldn’t expect guys like you to understand…” Katinka said smugly, as Yuko started to shake the stretcher.
“Oh sorry, bumpy road!” he said cheekishly.
“Hey, stop that! The guy in the front walks perfectly straight!” Katinka said annoyed, though deep down she thought it was kind of nice to be carried around like that, though she would probably grown tired of it well before they would reach Seireitei.

As the fun in shaking the stretcher to annoy Katinka had worn off, she started looking at the blank paper again. What was she going to write to her grandmother? The hollow thing she wouldn’t understand at all and did she even know what a zanpaktou spirit was? To be honest, all grandmother had spoken about was promotion, and the more Katinka thought about it, the more it seemed like that was all she understood and cared about. Katinka was positive that she was going to be promoted when she got back, but without knowing what seat she was being handed, there was really not much write about right now. “Ahhh whatever, I’ll just wait until I return, then I’ll now!” Katinka said to herself as she stuffed the paper and pencil back into her shihakusho, though Yuko seemed to have overheard her.
“Know what, exactly?” he asked.
“Well… which seat I’ll be getting obviously?” Katinka answered as Yuko chuckled.
“Really?!? Do you honestly think you’ve earned a position among the twenty most powerful, loyal and experienced shinigami in our squad? Just because you achieved shikai yesterday? Get real madame! Not even I am in line for being commanding officers, it just takes a lot more effort than that you know. You actually have to master your shikai, prove through many dangerous missions, that you can lead and that you are loyal to your superiors.
“I am very loyal to my superiors! Extremely loyal!” Katinka argued.
“Yeah, but you call that leading, Ryujuu-san?” he asked looking at her laying on the stretcher.
“No, maybe not…” she replied reluctantly, seeing Yuko's point more clearly than she would have liked to.

“Also they usually give you some responsibility first and check whether you fuck it up or actually get the respect of your men and accomplish your missions. Just like my foolish brother up there, who might actually be in line for a seated spot. Becoming a squad leader is a nice way of showing off your ability in a real life situation. What kind of responsibility did they give you before?” He asked Katinka.
“Well… I fetched things from the various warehouses…” Katinka said, trying to avoid the subject.
“.. and what kind of things?” Yuko asked insistently.
“Different… kind of things.” Katinka said, trying to close the discussion again.
“Aaand the last thing you fetched?” Yuko asked, trying to get her to be more specific.
“Ehrm… a deo… for the 16th seat… because he wanted to smell good for the officers party later that evening…” Katinka said with a voice like a mouse.
“Hah! You’re about as close to a promotion as an elephant is to fitting through a needle’s eye!” Yuko taunted, but in the very same moment felt the sheath of Katinka’s zanpaktou make contact with his face.
“Shut up! Maybe I’m not taking the decisive step this time, but next time I promise you, I’ll get the attention of the higher ups!” Katinka said and crossed her arms.
“Well, you won’t get there through guard duty only but doing anything rash won’t help you either. Just keep your head down and…” but Yuko didn’t get to finish the sentence, before Katinka’s sheathed zanpaktou had hit him again.
“I said to shut up, dammit! Don’t you think I can figure out by myself?” Katinka asked him angrily.
“We’ll see... Ryujuu-san. We’ll see.” Yuko said with a wry smile.

 

[Zanjutsu]

The leftovers from the buffet

Well back inside the safe walls of Seireitei, Ryujuu had fully recovered in course of a few weeks, but like Yuko had predicted, there were no signs, that she was going to be promoted anytime soon. The 16th seat was still oblivious to her efforts, and somehow all credit for slaying that monster had gone to the squad leader, Yuko's brother, who was believed to be closer than ever to gaining a seated position. But Katinka had learned an important lesson, which was patience. She scrapped the letter for granny, believing she wasn't able to put into words, what she had experienced. At least not so she would understand. Also it was apparent, that her reiatsu had really undergone a transformation, and she had had many comments from her shinigami colleagues at how intense her spiritual pressure had become. She could feel it herself, as she dealt with drunks during guard duty, and by putting a little bit of reiatsu into her pins and locks when necessary, she was able to hold down even some of the very strong guys, and her shunpo seemed stronger too.

"Ryujuu-san! Would you please come in here for a second?" the 16th seat called out from his window. "… but… I was just getting the last of the supplies like you told me to?" Katinka argued. "I know, but that can wait, I need to speak with you!" he said, as his voiced turned slightly more stern. "What have I done this time..?" Katinka muttered, as she put the supplies she had already fetched down and went into his office, almost expecting a scold. "Ryujuu-san, I heard words about how you and Yuko-san handled that hollow on your last mission." he said and flipped through some papers. "It's not that slaying a single hollow grants you any medals or favors with me, but I do think it was nice going considering it was your first real mission for a long time." he said and paused. "Thank you ve…" Katinka was about to say, when she was interrupted by the 16th seat. "… I'm not done yet, let me explain." he said. "I know you have extensive experience in guard duty, and right now your squad leader form the last mission have been called out to an urgent mission, which leaves a gap in my plans." he said and looked firmly at Katinka, who almost backtracked a bit just by him looking strictly at her.

"The Okuma House is hosting a rather grand banquet and dinner party, and they want it tightly secured! The task is delicate, because you can't just wrestle them to the ground if they get a little too tipsy, and you will have to remember your manners at all times. Hopefully it will be a quiet night, but I need one who can take care of things, if they get ugly. To be honest, the guests are not what worries me." he said and paused, as he seemed to be looking for words. "Well, in any case their manor is outside Soul Society, why it will always be a slightly greater risk. You will be doing a two man team with Yuko-san, and…" he said and hesitated, weighing his words a bit. "… and I guess you can call yourself co-team leader for this mission, as you will have seven shinigami under your command." he said and paused. "But it will be a few days, and until then you should probably get some training done too, and Yuko-san will probably be your man. So I'll relieve you for all duties until then." the 16th seat said slightly reluctant. "Wow, that really has to be important then…" she mumbled low pitched, having difficulties to fathom that she was just being promoted to team leader - well for a time anyway. “Oh yeah, and I sent Yuko-san over to the training area. You might want to go there.” He said before he turned his face into the papers again.

Katinka quietly left the office after bowing, feeling quite curious as to why they were going to the Kido training area, and when she entered she saw only Yuko standing there with a tired demeanor. “I’ve been waiting forever for you, we have training to do!” he said, sounding mildly irritated. “Hey! I was in the 16th seat’s office you know and came right after!” she argued. “Yeah, yeah… You probably did, but next time try not to waste his time to such an extent…” Yuko said casually, which threw off Katinka. “What did you say..?!?” she said flashing a raging smile. “Ohh… did I fire you up? Well, why don’t you fire an offensive kido at me so I can see how good you are? The hado 31 shakkaho seems to match your mood so why don’t we start out with that?” Yuko suggested, as he leaned against one of the wooden target boxes put up on the training field. “Offensive… kido? Well, I really haven’t ever used them. From my time in the 4th division I’ve been getting pretty good with a couple of bakudo spells, but not exactly hado…” she said scratching her chin. “What? You say can’t do it? Well, bakudo is no good when you want to fry an enemy where he stands.” Yuko said rolling his eyes upwards thinking what he should do, as Katinka folded her hands before her feeling kind off shameful for not being good with hado.

“Alright! Nothing left to do than you fire a couple of them at me. Now strike me down, Ryujuu-san!” Yuko said determined as he held out his sword in front of him. “Are… are you sure?” Katinka asked, but decided to comply because he really did look quite sure, and stretched out her hand aiming for him. “I hope I can remember…” Katinka said to herself as she started chanting. “"Ye lord! Mask of bone and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado no 31, Shakkaho!” she yelled and with all her might directed the fiery orb towards Yuko. Though instead of reaching Yuko with high speed, it took a couple of turns in the air before reluctantly crashing down into one of the target crates, far from its supposed course, exploding on contact. “Hah..? What?” Yuko exclaimed with a surprised smile. “Is that, really how good you are with that kido? Seriously!?! That looked like the death of a butterfy!” he said, as he burst out in laughter, falling down to his knees. “Alright, you can stop now, Yuko-san.” Katinka said, though he kept rolling around on the floor. “That’s enough now, I get it!” Katinka said slightly annoyed, having crossed her arms. “Dammit Yuko-san, cut it out!!!” she screamed, which seemed to get Yuko’s attention again and make him regain composure.

“Ahh right… Sorry, Ryujuu-san!” he said with a crooked smile as he brushed his clothes off. “But you made a mistake in the incantation. Try “Blood” instead of “bone”, then I guess it will work much better!” Yuko said and put his arms in the side with a big smile. “Sure. He we go! "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado no 31, Shakkaho!” she said determined, taking a wide stance as the red ball of fire shot towards Yuko. “Yesss!” she thought in the eyes of her apparent success. But not before it had left her palm, it split into two much less powerful ones, which fizzed right passed either side of Yuko, and didn’t even hit the ground before having burned out. “Okay. I must admit I have no idea what went wrong there, Ryujuu-san.” Yuko said, not able to think of any kido he had seen splitting into two before. Katinak couldn’t believe her own eyes either and just collapsed to a seated position, hiding her face in her knees. “This is no good, I’ll never be able to master an offensive kido!” she moaned. “Have you any idea of how long it took me to master the few bakudo spells I know? Reiatsu control is really difficult for me and the real reason why I was transferred from the 4th division, was because my Kaido was shit!” she said resignedly, as Yuko approached.

“Well… it’s not all bad…” he said and put a hand on her shoulder. “But I’ve never been able to master a kido beyond the single digits!” she complained in a high pitched voice. “31 is just too high!” she said muffled, still with her head in her knees. “Come one Katinka, you can’t give up like that! You are much stronger than that!” Yuko tried to encourage. “You’re right! I won’t fucking give up because a ball of fire won’t do as I like!” she said and clenched her fist, already imaging herself succeeding this time. “That’s the spirit! … also maybe you shouldn’t do the chant? It sounds like you lose concentration from that.” Yuko remarked, as he got back in position, and as he turned around Katinka was already charging the red orb of energy. “Hey… wait a moment..!” Yuko said, though Katinka was well beyond the point where should could stop. “Hado no 31, Shakkaho!” she chanted, as the red orb flew right at Yuko with high power, and using shunpo Yuko just managed to dodge it, before it hit the embraced wall 20 meter behind him and exploded in a fiery cascade.

“Thaaaat’s how you do it, Ryujuu-san! Top notch!” he said, feeling very happy for her, seeing her wide smile and eyes light up, though quickly trying to compose himself, as he saw they had onlookers from the sideline. “… I mean… yeah… Pretty basic stuff when you think about it…” he mumbled, as he caught a glance of the four shinigami passing through the training court in the sidelines chatting a bit before disappearing through a gate. “Heh? What are you gloating at?” Katinka asked bluntly. “Ehh… nothing…” Yuko said and scratched his head, trying to avoid eye contact, but felt compelled to elaborate when she continued to look at him with arms crossed. “Nothing… it’s just… I might feel kind of… anxious when there are onlookers. You know, guy’s got an image to uphold..!” he said jestingly and tried to smile naturally. Katinka immediately grabbed his collar and drew him close to her, giving him a hard stare, before a scornful sigh and pushing him into one of the crates. “And you don’t think that was why I couldn’t concentrate doing the kido?!?” Katinka asked Yuko. “No, no! It’s nothing like that, miss perfect. I’m just… well I was born a place where there were no room for standing out and being joyful. Life was harsh, and ever since it’s been more than a little difficult for me to actually let lose.” He said honestly. “And those four guys reminded me of the kind of guys who would make fun of me and put me down when I was child, if I seemed to have a good time. Nothing else but good old fashioned, patheticness.” Yuko said and crossed his arms, again trying to avoid eye contact.

“Ohh so that’s the reason why you are acting like that when your brother’s around?” Katinka said knowingly. “My brother has nothing to do with it..!” Yuko argued, though Katinka didn’t believe that for a second. “Of course he has. Are you going to let him be the only one of you getting to enjoy life?” Katinka asked, as suddenly something seemed to dawn for Yuko, though in that very moment, they were interrupted by the four shinigami from earlier having made their way to the kido training court. “Yo! The 16th seat sent us here to meet you. You going to be our team leader or something’?” one of the shinigami asked as he was chewing on a big lump of bread. “Yeah… I guess we a..” Katinka said before Yuko put his hand on her shoulder. “What kind of insolence is this?!?” Yuko said to both Katinka’s and the shinigami’s great surprise. “You come here stuffing food in your face while casually addressing your commanding officers?” Yuko said, stepping in front of Katinka, as she noticed how tall and intimidating he could really be.

“What about it..?” the shinigami asked as if nothing was wrong, still having his mouth stuffed with food. But the slightly overweight shinigami with the lazy attitude and slick, black hair was swiftly thrown into one of the target boxes, Yuko giving him an up close, hard stare. “I’ll tell you what about it..!” he said menacingly, as one of the other shinigami called out to him, though not daring to come any closer. “Yakimaku-san..!” he shouted. Katinka knew exactly what it was, that fired Yuko up this much and only now recognized her own folly. If she was ever to be a commanding officer, she would have to act like it and not letting the ones she was suppose to lead approach her with such a disgraceful attitude. “Don’t move..!” Katinka shouted to the three other shinigami, slightly moving her hand down to the hilt of her zanpaktou. “Your friend’s attitude is a disgrace not only to us, but to himself. He will have to learn his lesson!” Katinka said firmly, as the three other shinigami cowered slightly and took a step backwards.

“That’s damn right, Ryujuu-san!” Yuko said and tightened his grip on the shinigami’s collar, lifting him up in the air, which seemed to surprise and scare the rather tall and bulky shinigami to a point where he finally dropped his bread, and Yuko threw him down on all four. “Now, you want to have your bread back?” Yuko asked him, as the shinigami reach out for it, but Yuko determinedly stepped on his hand. “Ouch, why are you doing that..?!?” he whimpered. “Because you didn’t answer us or listened to the conditions. Now try again with “Yes please, Yuko-sama and Ryujuu-sama.”, and this time I will have you eat all up on the ground, like the pig you where when introducing yourself.” Yuko said, seemingly not about to cut him any slack, as the eyes of the shinigami dotted back and forth between Katinka, Yuko and his friends, and only when no one seemed to come to his aid, did his watery eyes look at the two and mouth starting to talk “Y-yes please… Ryujuu-sama… and Yuko-sama!” he said, as Yuko lifted his foot from the shinigami’s hand, allowing him to crawl closer and eat all the bread from the ground. “Great, now get in a line all of you!” Yuko barked, as the four shinigami created a line as fast as they could. “Geez… what a bunch of amateurs the 16th seat assigned us..!” Yuko whispered to Katinka. “It seems like they really did lack manpower for this job. If we get it done, we’ll be deserving that promotion.” Katinka whispered back, still trying to maintain her tough face.

Katinka observed the different shinigami as Yuki marched back and forth in front of the giving them some kind of speech about loyalty and respect, but Katinka was busy trying to figure out who these guys actually were, speaking of which… one of them wasn’t a guy. It seemed like a thin girl between 1.7 and 1.8 meter tall with relatively short hair which was styled to be long enough to just touch her left eye, was among the shinigami they had been given. She was… actually rather beautiful Katinka had to acknowledge, though her eyes, having a touch of determination in them, was looking downwards in fear right now, Katinka seeing the sweat running down her forehead. No wonder the way Yuko had treated the other shinigami and Katinka threatening to draw her sword if anyone of them had interfered. The next two guys were definitely… guys. One of them had a short, curly red hair and freckles, and though he was looking quite lean and fit, his attitude did not resemble that of a warrior’s. The last guy just briefly made eye contact with her and she felt their eyes being locked together for a split second signaling a faint smile, before he had to look away, as Yuko grabbed his jaw with his hand, asking him, not very politely, to not look away when spoken to. “Woah… he’s kind of cute!” Katinka thought to herself. Though average in build, he had that kind smile which couldn’t be bought with muscles or bravado.

“So your name was Hideo Tameko huh? I don’t think you’re taking any of this seriously, but maybe you need a reason to?!?” Yuko barked at the cute looking guy, as also he was grabbed by the collar and firmly pulled down on the ground, as he held his arms up in front of his head. “I-I’m sorry teamleader-sama!” he said surprised, as Yuko readied his fist for a mighty swing, apparently keen on teaching everyone of them a personal lesson. “I..! I think they learned their lesson for now, Yuko-san!” Katinka said as she interrupted him carrying out the sentence for failing to be obedient, as she put her hand on the arm, which was about to strike. “Let’s not get carried away, okay?” Katinka said pleadingly. “But Ryujuu-san, they need to feel the truth of my words..!” Yuko-san argued with a whisper. “And I think they all have, standing their shivering in fear. Let’s… just leave it at that and see if they haven’t learned by now.” Katinka proposed, as Yuko relaxed his arm and got up, dusting his shihakusho off. “Very well! We’ll take a break and then I want to see all of you in the zanjutsu dojo in an hour!” he said harshly as he left the kido training ground. “Jeesh… stepping in to save some cute guy’s ass…” Katinka thought to herself. Normally she would be absolutely indifferent seeing some random guy’s gut being cut out, as she had seen many worse things in the 4th division, but for some reason a bit kind of sympathy had entered her, and she was feeling extremely annoyed that it had.

But Katinka took a deep sigh and looked at the guy, still on the way to getting up. “Are you alright?” she asked with a plain face, trying her best to hide any emotion. “Ehh yeah… somehow… I’m really sorry for offending you, Ryujuu-sama and Yuko-sama! I’m just used to a lot of paperwork and these formal things are quite alien to me.” He explained as he was helped by the chubby guy with the lump of bread. “Ahh… I see…” Katinka said. Inside she was angry that the 16th seat had sent them pigs and paper pushers for such an important task, but somehow instead of being angry… she was blushing. Katinka quickly turned around and walked away, trying to remain dignified. “What the hell, Katinka?!? You can’t blush every time that guy is looking at you with his big, blue eyes dammit!” she tried to convince herself. “Ohh… so that’s why?” she suddenly heard Yuko say, who had been hiding just inside the doorway. “I did notice him getting eye contact with you and thought it was rather disgraceful to you, that he did so in that way, so I wanted to teach him a lesson. But it seems like you’re on his side.” Yuko said scornfully. “Wha..? I can’t take responsibility for each and every hot guy out there..!” Katinka said angrily. “But you just did.” Yuko said and turned his face away. “Well… you were beating him up for looking at me wrong! We’re not in Rukongai anymore, Yuko!” Katinka said, now genuinely feeling angry for his childishness.

“Alright, alright! Let’s just drop it. Just promise me, that you’ll be on my side professionally, okay?” Yuko asked Katinka. “Sure. I have had no intention of doing otherwise.” She said and crossed her arms. “Fine. Let’s head over to the zanjutsu dojo and wait for them, and hopefully we can make some soldiers out of them before we go to guard the Okuma Clan in a couple of days.” He said and sighed by the prospect. “Very well, sounds like a plan. But Yuko, he said we were given seven men to command, where are the two others?” she asked as Yuko shrugged. “Really? Well, the 16th seat have always been pretty big in his mouth when assigning soldiers, and if he said seven, I’m impressed we actually got more than half of that…” Yuko said with a wry smile, as Katinka wondered what other things he hadn’t been too precise about. But it didn’t take long before that question was answered, as suddenly a messenger approached Katinka and Yuko. “Ryujuu-san, Yuko-san!” he said and bowed. “Unfortunately the Okuma-house’s guests are arriving prematurely, and they need you at their grounds later today!” he said to Katinka’s great surprise. “Fuck…” she thought to herself, as their team was extremely far from being prepared for anything right now. “Are you… fucking kidding me?” Yuko exclaimed. “I’m sorry, I’m not. It’s important you head for the Okuma house at once.” He said and left as soon as he had made sure they understood the message.

“I guess… there’s nothing left to do than go meet them at the zanjutsu dojo for a quick peptalk?” Katinka suggested, though apparently this really had set off Yuko, and he seemed to angry right now to string together more than a couple of words without blowing up. “Yes. We should.” He said as they headed right towards the zanjutsu dojo, only a couple of blocks away. But seemingly Yuko’s rough treatment had straightened them up a bit, and they were already there when Katinka and Yuko arrived. “Hmm… it seemed like we might actually have a use for them anyway….” Yuko whispered to Katinka who nodded, as she saw how they had already formed a line. “Alright, listen up! Plans are changed, and as much as you could use some training, we have to go to the Okuma house at once as guests are already starting to arrive. This is most unfortunate, but we have no other choice!” Yuko said as he trotted back and forth in front of them. “If anyone have forgotten their teddy bear, I will personally provide a spare one made from a beehive, including the bees. I am really creative with these things, so just speak up if you need anything!” he said with a loud and strict voice. “And if you say you’ve forgotten your zanpaktou, I will provide sticks for you, and I will also find a proper sheath for them somewhere under your hakama!” he added, as Katinka saw how their team gulped. “No one? Well, then we’re off!” he said and smirked. “Don’t give them an easy time, they need discipline for this to work out, alright?” Yuko said to Katinka. “Hey, I know what it’s like to make drunken fools obey my word, and I sure know how to handle this bunch!” Katinka said slightly annoyed as Yuko chuckled. “I thought so..!” he said with a wry smile.

The Okuma House was indeed a grand and impressive, traditional clan, with a sizeable courtyard rounded off by tall, metal fence with spikes on the top to at least keep the rabble out. On top of it the manor was placed in what could best be described as a larger plateau with a quite steep slope elevating the mansion a good ten meters above the ground, though Katinka noticed the woods had been allowed to grow quite near the slope, and though it was close vegetation, you were able to get quite close to the house without being seen.
The guardsman looked at their papers and frowned a bit as he saw their petty group. "Was this really all the 5th division could scrape together?" he asked in a condescending voice.
"We are at your service." Yuko said as he took half a step in front of Katinka, who felt the blood rush to her face.
"They better be far more appreciative if someone attacks and we fight them off…" she muttered, as they crossed courtyard.
"As a large noble family the Okuma Clan is used to be treated with the utmost respect and their status would immediately drop the moment they accept anything than the very best treatment from the Gotei 13. Don't worry, it's political not personal." Yuko said, as his words calmed Katinka a bit. Katinka took a breath of fresh air and took her time to look around noticing three, large multiple stories buildings with alleys of Japanese cherry trees paving the way to each of them.
"From the map the guard provided us it seems as if the main party is going to happen inside the middle building right in front of us." Katinka said and pointed. "The building to our left is seemingly a monastery to of some sort. Apparently the priests in there are in charge of keeping up a 1st grade barrier around the mansion the whole evening and is thus off limits for everyone this evening." Katinka said and felt slightly relieved. "Well, makes it that much easier for us, only having to tend to the gate." Katinka said and stopped after hearing noise from the main gate. "You guys, go to the main gate and take point there. We'll join you as soon as we've inspected the perimeter." Katinka said with her most authoritative voice, as their shinigami underlings bowed and hurried over to the gate, seemingly having not forgotten Yuko's 'motivational' speech a little earlier.

"We should still be careful though. How about the other building, what is in there?" Yuko asked as Katinka looked in the security charter.
"That's… " she said as suddenly a shadow descended upon her.
"The Gotei 13! Fancy a fight with the finest fencer in House Okuma's history huh?" a voice said as Katinka looked up seeing a relatively tall grey haired guy with a thick moustache and slicked back, grey hair. With a quick step he jumped back into a low stance as he drew his rapier making a small circle with the tip, signalling his intention to fight.
"Ousu-sama, please don't! They're here to protect us!" a voice cried, as a younger man with short, black hair and a kind face came running up to them.
"They will pay for their criiimes..!" the old fencer cried out, though luckily the younger guy managed to get a hold on Ousu-sama before Katinka had been forced to defend herself.
"Come on uncle, why don't you go back to the main building and get a glass of wine. The evening is not even started, it's far too early for you to be like this..!" he said and quickly glanced apologetically at Katinka and Yuko. "I'm so sorry about Ousu-sama, he once fought shinigami in a civil war and gets like this whenever he gets a bit too much sake. Wine usually calms him down though. You know, the memories are getting real again." he said with a nice smile, as the uncle had sheathed his sword and wobbled back towards the main building. "Well, I got to go, it seems the guests are already arriving!" he said and waved before heading for the main gate.
"That's… one busy guy." Yuko commented as Katinka nodded.
"I'm happy though that he came when he did. Would have been a bad start having to cut up one of the guests." Katinka remarked.
"Ohh? I thought you'd enjoy roughing up a snooty noble or two?" Yuko said sarcastically.
"I… I'm on freakin' duty!" Katinka said and shook his head at Yuko's preposterous suggestion.

Katinka then pointed at the building opposite to the monastery which looked a bit more plain and with less decorations than the two other buildings. "That one… is the servants quarters and barracks for the guards." Katinka said, satisfied that she was able to complete her assessment of House Okuma.
"Wow, what a showing Ryujuu-san, you're sure to get that promotion now…" Yuko said casually as he scouted the place for other obvious landmarks which may prove valuable to them.
"Hey, as if you're contributing with anything!" Katinka objected.
"Let's go to the front gate and see what happens." Yuko suggested, starting walking towards the main gate.
"Yeah, as if you're the leader… hey, wait for me!" Katinka said, quickly changing her mind.
Apparently Yuko's sudden gut feeling wasn't completeley off, as their four team mates and the gate guards had their hands full with a bund of noble people acting up over some minor issue.
"How is this for a welcome! Heads will be rolling after this I can assure you!" a tall, middle aged woman shouted as she waved her fan threatingly at the guards, as Katinka with a firm glance at clenched fists felt her body's natural reaction would be to pull the woman down on the ground doing a nasty arm lock to teach her to moan and complain. But a quick image of herself being stringed up in her thumbs by the 16th seat flashed through her inner vision and stopped her from doing her what would easily be considering as the least smart decision of her life. Instead she saw how the tall girl with the relatively short hair stepped in to resolve the conflict. The fact that she was able to talk to the upset lady with the fan indicated she had had at least some experience with diplomacy in her life, and rather quickly the quarrelsome lady calmed down and was sent down towards the main building. This smoothed the work at the gate a lot and even the relatively well bolstered guy from their team seemed to have found a way to make himself useful by registering the guests and receiving any items they wouldn't need for the evening.
"She stays here for the time being, right?" Katinka asked Yuko receiving a knowing nod. Maybe these guys weren't the most fighty types, but right now she wouldn't trade them for some loyal 11th division types for anything. "Just shows that a versatile team might be more convenient than one consisting of the same types all the way through." Katinka said with a faint smile as Yuko snorted slightly at her conclusion.
"We'll see when people get drunk, if they can still handle the situation then. How about you scout the area more thoroughly and perhaps take your love interest Hideo Tameko with you?" he proposed with wry smile.
"I promise I'll wipe that smile off your face after we're done here…" Katinka said as he eyes caught Tameko-san's. "Tameko-san, we'll be doing a round, follow me!" she commanded, as he quickly bowed and ran up to her.
"Ohhh so cold…" Yuko whispered with a devious smile.
"Shut up…!" Katinka muttered, as she started trotting down the alley way, noticing how the last of the sun's rays had soon perished, the torches lining the paved roads starting having their uses.

"So… I didn't get to ask you any questions earlier." Katinka said firmly eyes looking forward with Tameko walking behind her. In reality that was a lie as she had had plenty of opportunity for doing so on the way to the Okuma House, but the last thing she wanted to do was to make it sound as if she was in any way interested in him.
"I guess not, Ryujuu-sama." he said with a slightly careful voice.
" Got noble descents?" she asked trying to sound indifferent.
"House Hideo is a small support clan to a House Ashisawa, we just do most practical and economic stuff for the main branch." he explained.
"I see. I've heard about House Ashisawa. They've run into some problems lately and had to instate the daughter of the clans previous head prematurely, right?" Katinka asked bluntly, pretty proud that she'd know such a thing, though it was only because the 16th seat once commented on it, and as Katinka didn't know he explained the situation for her.
"Yes, that's right. The house almost collapsed on itself after the lady's schemes had been uncovered, but luckily the new lady is most competent." he explained as Katinka nodded.
"And why did you decide to become a shinigami?" Katinka asked, hoping he might show some kind of personality soon.
"I didn't. In reality taking basic Academy training is mandatory for men in our clan and after we've done so, about one third are chosen to represent the clan as shinigami while the other two thirds are sent back to the clan to assist there." he said as Katinka slowly started to feel more interested.
"Then why were you chosen then?" she asked.
"I was one the best of my class." he said plainly.
"Really? That's pretty impressive." Katinka said, though she wondered why this wasn't higher in the hierarchy than doing paperwork if he was a top student. As she was about to open her mouth and ask, she saw a shadow lurking around the monestary's walls out of the side of her eyes. She stopped abruptly raising her hand to signal Hideo Tameko to halt. She slowly took a few step closer to the trees to get a better look at the guy. For all she knew he could have the gardener but this evening too much was at stake to let something like that slide.

Katinka squinted as she saw the visage of someone who had a striking resemblance to the guy who helped her calm the upset uncle earlier. What was he doing there? Katinka thought, as suddenly it seemed he sneaked inside the monestary from the front door.
"Hideo-san! That building is off limits, no one is allowed to enter this evening as the barrier surrounding the Okuma residence is kept up from inside that place. Come on, we'll have to look further into the matter!" she said as they ran closer to the monestary. "We don't know if this is a critical situation or not, but treat as if it were, okay? Wait here and make sure no one else enters or exits." Katinka said to Hideo as he bowed and turned around, scouting the area.
The double red doors were apparently unlocked as Katinka quietly set foot inside the monastery, her left hand lingering at the hilt of her zanpaktou. As she quietly put one foot in front of the other, she moved around the lobby which was unusually large with a stone floor and seven large ceremonial bells hanging at the end of the room, with benches scattered around at the walls and a small alter in the middle. Katinka saw a black shadow move behind the ceremonial bells quickly yelled at the figure.
"You..! Show yourself! This place is off limits!" she exclaimed, though the shadow seemed to disappear through a hole in the wall behind the bells. Katinka ran over to look behind the bells, and it did seem as if there was some kind of secret entrance there, a wall carpet covering a small doorway leading inside a cramped corridor where even a girl at Katinka's stature couldn't quite walk without bowing her head slightly.
She shuffled forward in the dark corridor until she reached what felt like another carpet and sensed light behind it. As she stepped through it she was met with a sight she hadn't expected. More than two dozen of the monks and priests and the large room with kido inscriptions on the floor - dead and their blood spilled on the inscriptions. "… the barrier!" Katinka exclaimed, as she saw a shade in the opposite end of the room.
"That's right, the barrier is down now." he said, Katinka recognizing the tone from the guy she suspected it was - the guy who had kept the quarrelsome uncle away from them. "In death these priests are worth more to our cause than they were alive. Fortunately you are too, Ryujuu Katinka-san. But you'll see…" he said with a malicious smile.

"Why did you do this!" Katinka shouted as she unsheathed he katana and assumed kamae with a firm two handed grip.
"But why… YOU did this, Ryujuu Katinka-san. And that's a nice pose showing the world who the true sinner is." he said, Katinka noticed how the guy's voice had completely changed from friendly and merry to a slightly rustier and dryer voice. "And now it's closing time!" he said and smirked, as he picked up a large rubber hammer, slamming it into the bell in the middle of the room, the vibrations feeling like an earthquake, Katinka's head spinning and her legs giving in beneath her.
"Damn it..!" she exclaimed, as the bells chime at long last stopped, having staggered her for a good half a minute at least. "You… won't get away!" she exclaimed and looked around with her sword raised, though he was nowhere to be seen. She quickly scurried through the narrow corridor in the wall, guessing he had to have gone this way, though her head was still somewhat spinning from the immense sound from the bell.
Katinka almost threw herself out of the door, as she was met by the sight of at least five guards of the mansion having cornered the two of them pointing at them with their glaives.
"That's her, the one who killed the priests!" the voice said, Katinka recognizing the voice being that guy's only he reverted to the nice guy tone with a bit of artificial fright there too.
"How… how could you Gotei 13 scum!" one of the guards shouted, as they stepped closer to them with their glaives still pointing their way. Hideo Tameko had already unsheathed his zanpaktou though Katinka signaled him to hold back. She was determined not let that guy win, and tried analyzing the situation to see how her blade could pierce his stomach fastest without having to cut down the five - most likely innocent - guards in front of her.

"Get away from her you bastard!" the voice of Yuko-san suddenly cried out as he shoulder tackled a guard so hard her flew at least ten meters away. "You buffoons don't realize that you've been fooled by that guy behind you? I saw him exiting before Ryujuu-san here!" Yuko said, as the remaining four guards backed away a little.
"Rikimaru-dono would never do something that vile!" the guard said assertively, though their argument was soon broken by black shadows moving in over the fence and roof of the monastery behind Yuko and Katinka.
"Oh no, the barrier!" the same guard exclaimed, as several rugged figures appeared.
"Bandits…" Katinka said and narrowed her eyes as Yuko nodded. "Yukara-district bandits, the ruthless sort definitely!" she said and tightened her grip around the zanpaktou as a 2.20 meter tall bandit strolled up to Katinka balancing a large two-handed mace over his should and his long, sweaty hair covering the edges of his gaunt face made him look like something that could scare a full grown bull. "Sooo… little missy, how about you drop that stick and…" he said though before he ended his sentence, Katinka having casually plunged her zanpaktou in his stomach.
"Drop it, you said? Right here?" she smirked and cut outwards, as blood spewed from the wound, the large thug dropping his mace falling to his knees with eyes of disbelief. The other thugs, seeing Katinka cutting through their comrade didn't hesitate to charge at the shinigami.
"Hmpf… to think that they would throw their life away this easily…" Yuko said with a wry smile as he kicked one of the thugs through torch and sent him tumbling over the courtyard enveloped in fire, before he turned around to cut an assailant who was halfway about to cut Yuko, as a thin red line opened op from shoulder to the opposite hip.
"There are quite a lot..!" Katinka commented, as she gave it her all, defending and cutting as large groups of thugs had set their sights on their prey.
"That's why we're here, Ryujuu-san!" Yuko yelled back, equally occupied with fights.

But suddenly Katinka felt something coming from behind her and as she turned around the point of a rapier was thrusted towards her and she narrowly dodged it by leaning backwards and blocking upwards before doing the eminent backwards roll to put distance between her and the attacker. "Ousu-sama..?" Katinka said with great surprise in her voice as she looked into the grey eyes of the old man. Either he was dead sober or had transcended the word 'drunk', but without uttering a single word, but with a face burning with calm rage and the intention to kill he suddenly charged again, his rapier dancing like the fluttering of a butterfly's wings, as Katinka desperately tried to follow his moves, though backtracking was her only option right now. One cut. Two cuts. Three cuts. Katinka tried to keep track of all the small cuts the old fencer got in due to her own sloppy technique, but had to conclude that this barrage of cuts and thrusts would sooner or later be fatal if she didn't do something.
Right now conversation was out of the question as he hardly left her with time to breathe in between his many accurate attacks, and she didn't even know where Yuko was, and didn't care as it would be shameful for her to call for his help anyway. But well… if he were to tackle his way into the fight, she wouldn't object right now…

"You must perish you traitor of the Okuma House! Finally the Rapier of Forgiving have been unleashed again the shinigami enemy. Forgiveness only strikes when my blade strikes though!" he shouted and with a maniacal smile and fire in his eyes, the uncle increased the speed of his strikes, before with a small circular move he disarmed her. "You have stood longer against my blade than any other shinigami I've fought, but I suppose this is the end of the compliments." he said as he raised his rapier above his head for one last strike. But per reflex Katinka stretched her arm with the palm pointing at Ousu-sama. "Hado no. 31, Shakkaho!" she exclaimed, surprised by how her body and voice had acted before her brain. The red orb of fire blasted out of her hand and struck the uncle right in the middle of his chest, exploding wildly, sending the uncle flying through several trees and far away from her.
"Sorry… I know I'm suppose to protect House Okuma and not attack them. I'm trying damn it!" she exclaimed, as her eyes scouted the battlefield and found her own katana lying a good 10 meters away with no one around it and Katinka was right about to run towards it, as another presence emerged. "You were supposed to have died, Shinigami!" the rusty voice of the guy who killed the priests in the monastery said discontent with the situation. "But maybe… you'll die now!" he said as his fast movements closed in on the unarmed Katinka.

Katinka quickly tried to pull a bakudo, but it seems he had caught her flat footed, not able to react in time. But right as Katinka has envisioned the struck would fall, a shadow had moved between her and the assailant - rather two to be correct. One was Tameko-san and the other was the guy with the curly red hair and the freckles, who she couldn't for the life her remember the name of. Both had reached Katinka just in time two block the incoming sword.
"What the hell is this? Two frail shinigami trying to protect their friend? Your swords are trembling!" the assailant said and kicked Tameko away and in the same swift motion he cut Katinka's freckled team mate in the thigh intending to kill him with the next swing. But at this time Katinka had already quickly grabbed her zanpaktou and with a swift upwards diagonal cut she forced him to do a quick backwards jump and resume his stance a few meters away from her and her team mate.
"Don't you ever try to kill my team mates, you bastard!" Katinka shouted in anger.
"Bastard? No, I am the Okuma Rikimaru, the rightful heir of House Okuma. Well, at least I will be when these bandits have sacked the mansion. After this me and my uncle will question my cousin's ability to be a leader and I, although of branch descent, will likely assume power." he chuckled with his rusty voice, that seemed to be his natural voice. "Of course Ousu-san doesn't know though he trusts me with his life. All won't work out if I'm not going to be the one who kills the murderous assassin who slaughtered our 'beloved' priests, so that means that you must die now, shinigami…" he said with a maniacal smile.
"Oh yeah? As if I'm going to let some treacherous noble put a dent in my proud, Rukongai-soul!" Katinka said, somehow feeling proud of her heritage - or the lack thereof.
"Then stop me, Shinigami!" Rikimaru shouted as he leapt at Katinka aiming for a downwards strike.

His reiatsu was above hers, that much was certain, and going this speed she couldn't release her shikai to block it.
"Hado no. 33, Sokatsui!" Yuko chanted, as the flue flames separated the two combatants, as Rikimaru was forced to stop midway and Katinka saw her chance.
"Thanks Yuko! Kuruwasero, Hanpo!" Katinka exclaimed, as her katana transformed to a two handed semi spear with a elongated arrow formed tip and two straight, wavy blades protruding to each side underneath the tip. "You're dead!" she shouted as she leapt over the remnants of the blue flames Yuko had fired off a moment ago. Rikimaru looked properly surprised to see Katinka in such a fierce fightback, and only just managed to block Katinka's downwards strike in the last moment - he thought. "Throw Off.." Katinka whispered with a smirk, as her ability slightly altered Rikimaru's perception of space, Katinka delivering a deep vertical strike from shoulder to hip as blood sprayed out from his large wound. Rikimaru swiftly cut towards Katinka, as she did a couple of quick backwards skips before making firm contact with the ground again. Katinka thought the his wound looked pretty severe and that he had to possess a quite large portion of reiatsu to still being able to counter attack like that.
"What was that... ability?!?" Rikimaru demanded to know. "I blocked that strike for sure!" he said as Katinka glanced at him with a wry smile.
"If you can't find out on your own, why don't you surrender. Maybe you have something up your sleeve?" she taunted him, knowing very well that the sword he was holding was not an asauchi and as such unable to be released.

"Like I give a damn!" he said and extended his hand. "Hado no 54, Hai.." he said as suddenly as his arm was pierced by a rapier.
"To think that the shinigami traitor was you all the time Okuma Rikimaru. Only my rapier has any forgiveness left to give you." the voice said, as Katinka noticed Ousu-sama standing there, his clothes on his upper body all burned off by the shakkaho she hit him with before, though she was shocked to see him still standing.
"As if you have the right to judge me, you who have no ambition!" Rikimaru said, as he pulled his arm towards himself. "If I have to kill you too, then so be it..!" he said menacingly as Ousu-sama lowered his rapier.
"Look around, how many here are still standing behind you, Rikimaru-san? You have been defeated by better warriors than you." Ousu-sama said as Rikimaru glanced around seeing that most of the bandits had either fled or had been killed by the Okuma-house guards and Katinka and Yuko's team of shinigami. It was as if in the moment Rikimaru had finally realized the severity of his wound and his body started shaking as blood ran out of his mouth, defeat having caught up with him.
"To hell with you! And when you arrive there someday you will see I have claimed it as my domain and you'll regret properly..!" he said as suddenly he turned his sword towards his throat and pierced it with his sword, immediately falling to the ground as dead as he could be.
Katinka narrowed her eyes, not too happy that he chose to end it this way, in her mind he was a disgrace. "Going this far and not even believing enough in your cause to follow through to the bitter end. What kind of resolve is that..?" Katinka asked herself as she undid her shikai and sheathed her katana.

The party was naturally cut off short and although the grounds had been overrun with bandits she was told that the presence of the shinigami had definitely saved the Okuma House from being completely overrun. Also it seemed that although some were wounded, only a few from the Okuma House guard died, much thanks to the shinigami who had been able to fight off many bandits and thus attract a lot of attention, so the guards could fight one-on-one fights and get the guests, servants and family members to safety. Even Ousu-sama had greeted the shinigami with thanks and he even gave Katinka a personal thanks, saying her hado 31 had punched him out of his self pity so he could see clearly again.
The four shinigami had been told to stay at the manor and keep order until Katinka and Yuko had returned to Sereitei and informed the 16th seat of what had happened. Hopefully he would send some extra soldiers to fortify the Okuma House while they gathered themselves again, and thus Yuko and Katinka hurried back to Sereitei not making any halts on the way.
"Phew, you're still faster than me in shunpo..!" Katinka said out of breath, as they reached the 5th division's barracks.
"Yeah, but only slightly though." he said and smirked, Katinka seeing the sweat on Yuko's forehead as a sign, that she was getting stronger. "Will you got report it?" Yuko said as Katinka nodded. "Ah great, see you later then!" Yuko said and waved casually while strolling off.
"Yeah, see you." Katinka said, as she hurried over to the 16th seat's office. Apparently he wasn't available right now, but Katinka caught a pen and wrote a quick report, urging him to send more shinigami to House Okuma if possible. She wanted to make it sound urgent but not pushy, and keep it pretty short. Either way she had a more thorough report to write that explained their mission's outcome and hopefully bringing her one step closer to a promotion.

 

[Zanjutsu]

Katinka

Katinka cracked her fingers and did a deep sigh as she opened the sealed envelope with anticipation. Was this finally it? She had heard that one of the seats had recently opened in the 5th division because of promotion to another division, but she didn't dare believe it could actually be so as she slowly slid the letter out as she held her breath.
"I can't believe it, they have finally ackno…" she said as she went through the words. 'Mission to South Rukongai. Reason: Extrodinary hollow activity near the 10th district. Duration: three days or as long as necessary." the letter said, as Katinka couldn't help but feeling slightly disappointed, though the at the same time she felt this presented an opportunity none the less.

For a moment Katinka composed herself and thought the situation through.
"Okay then… It seems like they don't tell me much, but I suppose I'll need my utmost skills as there will be probably be battle, and I will have to prepare myself for any given event…" she said before realizing she was being watched from behind and felt a small flick in her back head as she turned around immediately.
"Yuko..?!?" she asked surprised as she felt her back head.
"Hey, what are you doing?" he asked and glanced at the letter. "Where are you off to?" he asked casually with his arms tugged inside his shihakusho.
"How… did you know I was off to somewhere?" Katinka asked skeptical.
"Well, I recommended you to my brother who probably recommended you to the officer in charge of assigning shinigami for this mission. Pretty much a standard assignment, but doing it right will definitely earn you some points at the brass. Sometimes it's not about power and accomplishments but about stability and the fact they can count on you to sort things out." Yuko explained.
Katinka looked at him for a second or two.
"I see… so you have access to his drawers? You thief!" she said with a wry smile.
"Hey! It's not like that at all, it's just..! Hey wait! You almost got me riled up there…!" Yuko said and grinned. "But you'll have to do better than that, and if you absolutely need to know, I just overheard him speaking about the lack of man power and discretely reminded him that we had promising lower rank shinigami too." Yuko said as Katinka sighed.
"Lower ranked… You don't have to step in it you know!" she said as Yuko snickered.
"I know, I just kind of like to!" he replied with a wry smile.

"Well, I'll have to go prepare, it's tomorrow you know." Katinka said and pushed Yuko aside. "In one way Katinka was pleased to have gotten such an opportunity, but on the other hand she didn't really like how it came to pass. Could it really be, that she wasn't able to attract these opportunities herself and had to have people do it for her? Either way if that was ever to change, she had to not screw this up. That last mission with Yuko had become a real bad story, and though it was inevitable, the brass seemed to mostly judge on the basis of success or failure and not take the odds into account. Pretty nice to know, and probably how many officers had climbed their way up doing plenty of easy jobs so their resume looked nice and positive. For Katinka though, it was enough with one positive accomplishment on her resume right now, and she felt determined that this was going to be it.
Carrying her standard one strapped shinigami backpack she reported to her superior officer for a last couple of instructions and her gate pass.
"Alright Katinka, this is straight forward. A few hollows are spotted in South Rukongai and we expect you to deal with them. Not much else to it, so get going and return safely." The 16th seat said as he resumed his paperwork.
"Yessir!" Katinka said and bowed as she took off from the 5th division.

"The 10th district of Rukongai... right here. Yes." she said and looked around. "Did those fellows lead me the wrong way?" she said to herself, finding herself standing on a deserted hill with a bit of forest starting a few hundred meters down the hill. There was absolutely no trace of hollows anywhere, but as she had learned from doing patrol work, these guys might pop up when you least expected it.
"At least no villagers will be in harm's way out here..." she said to herself as she stifled a yawn and looked around. At the entry to the forest it did look like something was creeping around. Katinka put her backpack down and her hand on her zanpaktou's hilt. It seemed like it was on all fours, so it was unlikely to be a Rukongai citizen going around the place. She watched as it seemed to leap into the forest and carefully went down to check the out perimeter, though walking into the forest seemed like an unwise thing to do at present time.
"What jumps on all four and isn't a shinigami?" she asked herself, unable to come up with any other answer than the obvious... hollows. Suddenly something moved close by her and per instinct she dodged something that came shooting through the air at high velocity, drawing her zanpaktou and cutting in its general direction seemingly getting lucky as blood spewed out before the thing retracted again.
"So... you are a frog..!" Katinka said and took kamae, as the frog hollow came waddling out of the forest, not quite able to retract its tongue completely making it partly drag behind it. "No reply means I get to cut you again!" Katinka said, as she moved to flank the frog, though at that moment balls of slime seemed to shoot out from its body. But the attack was telegraphed and she saw through it quickly. Skilfully dodging the slimy projectiles by running zig zag, she leapt at the frog and kicked it on its back seemingly catching the frog off guard as it burped up blood before Katinka made a downwards strike timing it with her landing, as the frog was cut nearly in half doing a gurgling scream as its soul vanished and started disintegrating and going to whatever place that being belongs in its life after being a hollow.

Katinka sheathed her sword while scratching her head wondering what kind of place a hollow went when it was slain.
"Oh yeah, Soul Society of course!" she said and snapped her fingers, though that meant she might potentially meet that frog in its real shape on the way back, though she doubted it would look anything like a prince - no matter what the fairy tales told.
"Well that one was no challenge at all!" she said crossed her arms with a confident smirk, though she thought that there might be others and that securing the perimeter would be pretty important. She then grabbed her backpack and moved along the outskirts of the forest but after an hour of walk, she still hadn't met a single soul.
"Did I scare them all away?" she asked herself, though at the same time she saw an odd source of light up ahead. It wasn't a bonfire but the closer she got to it the more it seemed like it was the air itself that seemed to emit light a bit like a lantern. It was a somewhat pillar shaped mild light that stood about three meters tall and a few meters wide. Katinka tried to stick her hand into the translucent light source. It was a tingling sensation and she quickly took her hand out of the light again.
"Reiatsu..!" she exclaimed surprised. "What in the world is that thing?" she asked and took a few steps back, before she felt she had bumped into someone and quickly turned around.
"I'd like to know too, that thing contains quite a lot reiatsu. Would be perfect for a meal..." the voice said as Katinka looked upon a humanoid being that looked like he was wearing the fragment of a hollow mask. What kind of reiatsu was this? It was huge and felt dark like a pit. Much larger and more malign than any she had felt from either Yuko or the 16th seat.

Katinka didn't hesitate and quickly drew her zanpaktou aiming to cut him down from waist to shoulder, and when he was unable to move, they could have a lovely conversation afterwards.
"What the..!" Katinka exclaimed, as the tip of her zanpaktou only grazed the guy's stomach and made a small, shallow cut before her sword was deflected as if trying to cut metal.
"Woah... you really got through my hierro a bit there?" the guy said with a disinterested frown as he looked at the shallow cut. Before Katinka was given any chance to retreat or attack again, the iron skinned guy grabbed her by the throat and held her out before him.
"I came here to check out what kind of bento that was, but it doesn't seem as if I can eat it. But you do have some amount of spiritual pressure, so I suppose you can be my lunch, sweetie!" he said mockingly as Katinka tried to wrestle his hand of her throat to no avail. This wasn't the way it was suppose to go, Katinka thought as she desperately tried to think up something to do while her body vigorously tried to resist the power of the monstrous guy's grip. Was he a hollow? If so she had never heard of such a thing before. Katinka was about to give up and half way closed her eyes, when she suddenly felt him slightly releasing his grip and looked at him again. What was this? A zanpaktou now pierced through his head from the left side and protruding out of the right and his eyes had grown dull. In the end of the zanpaktou she saw a hand... a hand protruding out from the light source but with no body behind it. Suddenly the light source started to expand explosively completely enveloping her. At this point it was as if she was suspended mid air. The hollow was gone and she caught a glance of a guy with large, square glasses, black hair and a haori. It was akin to a captain's but had no division number on it, only odd markings she couldn't exactly make out what was.
"A shinigami and an arrancar..?" the voice said as the guy looked at his bloody zanpaktou, seemingly surprised that it had connected to anything, before giving Katinka a quick and measuring side long glance. A huge flash of light followed right after and Katinka felt as if she had been flung away by a mighty force as everything went from a powerful yellow light to completely, pitch black.

This dreamless darkness... was she dead? Was she going to walk the same path as the frog hollow? Katinka thought that if she were to end up the same place he had better be a real prince. But slowly it was as if the memories of colour and life returned to her mind as she suddenly started opening her eyes. How long had she laid there? She was on her back and looking into the surprisingly blue and calm sky but felt a clear presence beside her. No, 'presence' would be a completely wrong way to put it. It was more like an absolutely massive energy that seemed to present itself with friendly intent. Doing what she was able to do, she turned her head and looked at the white haired shinigami, who seemed to be healing her and gave her a friendly smile. Was that... a haori? It definitely wasn't the same guy as inside the light, his intent was far colder and more sinister. Was this really a captain?!? Katinka turned her head and looked straight up into the sky, feeling embarrassed to lay helpless beside a captain. She had expected that upon meeting a captain the first time she would want to impress him or her a bit more. What made this whole mess worse was the fact that she didn't know from which division he was from and thus how to address him properly.

The unknown captain suddenly spoke to her asking her not to be shy. What was the matter with the informal tone of voice? How the hell was she supposed to answer that in any proper way? Katinka thought, and continued staring at the sky.
"What is your name?" the captain suddenly asked, Katinka feeling she actually didn't want to get her name involved with this fiasco, but knew she couldn't change how things turned out anyway.
"I'm Ryujuu Katinka from the 5th division." she answered.
"What happened Ryujuu-san? I really need to know what happened here." he then asked with a tad more firmness to his voice as she turned to him feeling as if she couldn't possibly refuse his request as it was both friendly but at the same time ominous as the deep sea. The more she lay there the more she realized that his reiatsu was more massive than anything she had tried before and the amount of reiatsu he put into his healing kaido was just off the charts.
"Yes sir!" Katinka ended up saying. "I was sent here on mission by the 16th seat and after defeating some frog like hollow I of course went to check up on the perimeter and found this odd cylindrical pillar of light." she said and wondered if the next part would sound like pure fantasy to the captain. "I'm sorry captain-dono, this might sound very odd, but just then some human... no... it's reiatsu was definitely hollow like and it had what looked like a fragment of a mask on its head, though your could easily see its face. Anyway it attacked me and I was..." Katinka said and almost started to doubt her own story. "I was unable to do anything as it grabbed my throat and spoke about eating me. But suddenly a zanpaktou stabbed it right through the skull and in a brief moment the light soared and I felt myself floating inside an orb of light, gazing at this guy with black hair, square glasses and a haori..! But... only the haori had no number on it, only some markings I didn't understand. Then someway the light somehow exploded and I felt like I was sent flying... and the next thing I remember is this!" Katinka explained.

The captain had resumed his firm stare and Katinka felt slightly unnerved by his lack of reaction to what she had to tell.
"How are you feeling?" he suddenly asked as Katinka tried to move her legs and arms, and to her own surprise she was able to get up pretty easily. Only a bit of soreness in her body was left along with a wounds from the explosion.
"T-that's amazing..! I wasn't able to stand just five minutes ago!" Katinka said in disbelief.
"Good. Then I have a new task for you, any hollows in this area are no longer a concern for you." the captain started saying as Katinka was taken slightly aback being sent into another mission this soon after being knocked unconscious. But she was ready for anything he would throw at her - especially considering that earning the trust of a captain would be important to her further advancement within the Gotei 13.
"You have to go back to Seireitei and report to Room 46 and tell them that 'the 6th squad captain confirms that the suspect has most likely gained entry to Soul Society and that I am pursuing him.'" the captain said before continuing. "This must not be delayed by anything, you have get to Room 46 as quickly as possible and relay this information. Got it?" he said firmly as Katinka instinctively straightened up and bowed.
"Y-yes I got it, 6th squad captain!" Katinka said readily and immediately headed towards Seireitei. This could turn out to be a good day anyway if she completed this task satisfactory. "Now just don't go dying and taking the knowledge of my success into the grave..!" she said to herself, sounding angrier than she had expected to. But it was probably a result of the fact that this mission was her most important yet. But really, was this captain strong enough to defeat that other guy? Both of their reiatsu levels were absolutely massive but that first mysterious guy had a highly unusual one.

Her entry into Seireitei was swift and though the long way had worn her out, she continued to shunpo until she reached Room 46.
"Please I need to see Room 46, this is urgent!" she shouted as the guards were reluctant to let her pass through.
"I'm sorry but they are done for today and will retreat shortly. Come back tomorrow with an application." one guard said firmly.
"But it's information from the 6th division captain Shiruga Juzen-sama!" Katinka said almost angrily. The guards look slightly confused but was adamant not to let anyone pass. "Suit yourself..!" she said as suddenly with a quick jump she grabbed one of the guard's collar and simultaneously pushed the other one away with her feet making a way through and she immediately made the leap through both of them reaching for the entrance when one of the guards got hold of her sleeve.
"Stop you little..!" he said as Katinka turned around ready to kick him with real force as a young woman appeared in the doorway.
"I think it's best this shinigami come with me..!" she said firmly and just in time before the skirmish escalated further.
"Hmpf..! Now you're in trouble..!" one of the guards said as he brushed his shihakusho off and Katinka gave him a cold stare. As if she was in trouble, she just got invited inside.

"I heard you mentioning Shiruga taicho. I presume you somehow know of the mission he was sent into?" the young woman asked as the proceeded down the stairs.
"Yes... we ehrm... met by chance as I was doing a mission there. He told me to relay some information to Room 46." Katinka said as the woman looked at her and nodded understandingly.
"You can enter now." she said as Katinka slowly stepped into the octagonal shaped room. Only now did it dawn to what she was doing. Standing before Room 46 as just a rank and file shinigami was something she never thought she would be doing. 'Intimidating' was the best word for the aura that met her inside Room 46. It was in no way the heavy reiatsu of a high level shinigami, but it was more austere and it was as if she was being pierced by it and interrogated just by stepping into the room.
"This is late, shinigami. What is your name, business and rank?" a female voice asked. Katinka noticed they were all sitting behind screens so you couldn't see their faces and just barely make out who was talking to you.
"I-I'm Ryujuu Katinka. Unseated shinigami of the 5th division." she said and paused as she heard a slight murmur from the members. "I was sent by Shiruga Juzen to tell you that he found that the target had gained entry into Soul Society and that he is going to pursue him." Katinka said as a long pause ensued.
"I see. Did you also get a get a look at the target?" a voice slightly younger sounding asked her.
"I did. I was caught in the energy explosion when he gained entry and was found by the captain who healed me and sent me here." Katinka said trying to explain herself concisely.
"It concerns us that he tries to pursue the target but we trust that he will still stick to the orders. Regarding you we must stress that this was an extremely high priority mission and that nothing must be revealed of this." a guy said firmly.
"I-I understand." Katinka said and bowed.
"We are noting this. Please return to your division Ryujuu-san." he said as Katinka promptly left the room, feeling relieved when she finally got out of their piercing gazes.
"It's okay. They are stern but this is a matter they cannot afford to be lenient. I believe they felt you did well." the young woman said with a faint but soft smile.
"Oh... I see. Thank you." Katinka said and returned the smile.
"Please take this letter and show it to your commanding officer. He will understand not to question you further about why your mission was interrupted." she said and handed Katinka a sealed letter which she graciously accepted.
"Thank you very much again!" she said and bowed.

"The hell is this?!?" he said and slammed the note into the desk. "You tell me, that you were instructed to go back to Room 46 by a captain, but that you are not even allowed to tell me why?" he asked agitated as Katinka straightened her body.
"Y-yes sir! I would want absolutely nothing else than to tell you what, but Room 46 has classified it!" She said and looked straight ahead.
"T-thats...! Damn it!" he said and buried his face in his palms. "Come on, go away, Ryujuu-san. Go get those wounds properly healed..." he said resignedly.
"Y-yes sir!" she said and quickly left the room. The 16th seat was definitely not in a good mood today and to Katinka it almost felt as if he had viewed her mission as a failure, but in reality she had been forced to withdraw from the mission. A captain's words on the battlefield was well beyond those of the official mission papers but the 16th seat had a hard time accepting that it seemed. Perhaps he was starting to think, that she was the kind of shinigami who attracted trouble and in his mind were coupling her with unfortunate incidents? Could it be that hard work wasn't going to get her to where she wanted to be?
"Who the hell am I actually working so hard to please?" she suddenly asked herself, the words just slipping through her lips. It was clear to her, that neither Room 46, the 16th seat or the white haired captain would just automatically take interest in her acknowledgments if she just worked hard. Something had to come out of it, something positive. How she would achieve that, was a completely different question. But maybe she had to look beyond her normal targets and aim for something different? Another division another challenge? Or did she have to radically rethink her approach to this shinigami business?