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Post by Azayaka Aizen on Jun 24, 2015 7:38:18 GMT -6
"Prelude III":Rena watched Tervaden, as he looked over his zanpakuto. "We need to return. Father wants to have a meeting." "You degenerates can wait." replied Tervaden, securing his zanpakuto to side. "We have something else to do." Resting her hand on the hilt of her blade, Rena turned toward the gate. "If you keep him waiting too long..." "Your father is no fool, Rena." laughed Tervaden. "After what I've done, I'm sure he has someone watching us. And, that's fine. I hope can keep up. Let's go." Rena followed Tervaden into the gate and it closed behind them. Moved
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Post by Commander Shunsui Kyoraku on Jul 4, 2015 0:15:51 GMT -6
"After a Vermillion Return":A gruesome report lay upon the Captain Commander’s desk about the destruction Sada Teruo had unleashed on the academy on top of a missive from the archives about the stealing of Chinmoku and the bloody display of the guards. Shunsui sighed. Even those who hadn't joined the Gotei were terrified or lost. It was like a salutation of at least some part of Las Noches waking up. Returning to torment them. But what part? And why? Was it Vale? Is it Azayaka and why hasn’t she shown up before now? He drummed his fingers on his desk. He had been pondering the questions for over a week. A knock disturbed his thoughts. He nodded. "Come in."
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Post by Lt. Nanao Ise on Jul 4, 2015 9:40:54 GMT -6
Nanao walked in with two guards from Central. She bowed. “There appears to be no signs of anything lost in the archives but for the zanpakuto,” she reported.
Shunsui nodded to himself, still tapping his fingers.
“Captain?” she asked.
He sighed. “That will be all, gentlemen,” he murmured. They nodded and bowed out. Nanao approached his desk.
“Shunsui…” she whispered.
“There are no signs of any breakout from Aizen’s cell, yet Tervaden’s blade has been wrenched away from its keeping place, and the Ayakashi who tried to take his life enacted a nightmare on our academy. There’s something wrong, and I can’t figure out what.”
She dared place a hand on his arm. “If you’re thinking Tervaden is alive and gone dark, it’s not your fault, Captain. You HAD to do what you and Kisuke did to get information from him. Something was threatening the Realms.”
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Post by Commander Shunsui Kyoraku on Jul 4, 2015 10:02:26 GMT -6
Shunsui stood and walked over to the balcony. “I am aware of why I took the actions I did, Nanao-chan. It doesn’t change the fact that there is something I’ve missed.” His eyes narrowed. “There has to be. Why attack the academy? And why,” he reached into his haori and opened another report he had been given by the Stealth Forces, “attack Soi Fon?” His hand clenched around the parchment. “There are three pieces before me if I could find out what they mean, and they don’t all lead to a rogue ayakashi on the loose. It’s too …. sharp.”
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Post by Lt. Nanao Ise on Jul 4, 2015 10:17:47 GMT -6
Nanao set a hand on his arm. “We will find the answers and solution, Shunsui,” she whispered. “You shouldn’t give into despair.”
Her captain chuckled. “I’m not despairing. I worry about the future, but,” he paused and a small smile flitted over his features, “I am going to miss our dinner tonight more than facing this darkness.”
Nanao blushed and lowered her head. “You… even if I know you are lying…”
Shunsui chuckled.
She coughed and pushed up her glasses. “You’re allowed to let other paperwork sli-” Any other instructions were lost in the abrupt kiss on her lips. Her face flamed. “Anyone could have seen that, Captain.”
Shunsui stroked her hand. “I needed some insurance, didn’t I?”
She ducked her head. “Impossible man.” She squeezed his arm. "We -- we can make up tonight's plans." Her face darkened considerably.
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Post by Commander Shunsui Kyoraku on Jul 4, 2015 10:26:06 GMT -6
Shunsui nodded and kissed her forehead. “You can leave me to my thoughts now. I will focus on what is needed to be done.” She nodded and stepped back, looking up at him, eyes full of trust and confidence. Then, she bowed and exited. The commander turned back to the balcony, a hard expression burning into his eyes. "I think it's time to visit a shopkeeper and his lab."
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Post by Eisaku Koga on Jul 4, 2015 12:02:31 GMT -6
"To Know Everything....":Koga stood at the edge of the open gate, his eyes closed as he inhaled deeply."Tervaden, I have seen how this will end. Master Aizen's request is a death sentence for all who go."
"You have a better idea?"Opening his eyes, Koga looked around the First Division office. He stepped from the gate, his bare feet learning the room's secrets as he stepped gracefully around the desk. Looking to the Captain Commander sitting at the desk, Koga laid a gentle hand to the man's back.
Koga looked to the masked and hooded man standing in the gate. "Your conversation with Captain Ukitake will not help you. But, if you insist upon having that conversation, you should leave your zanpakuto behind." Koga's violet eye shimmered in the orange glow of the room. He lifted his hand the Commanders' person. Sighing, he stepped from behind the desk and back into the gate. "The quest for the hogyoku will fail." "I know."
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Post by Captain Ryo Hirabayashi on Aug 17, 2015 19:10:11 GMT -6
"A Leader's Hand":Ryo knocked gently on the door of the First Division. With her haori draped over her arm, Ryo knocked again after recieving no answer. She waited, her foot tapping against the stone pavement. "I'm sorry, Captain." she whispered. Taking her haori from over her arm, Ryo folded it with her division insignia up. She knelt down and placed it gently on the single step. Keeping her eyes on the haori, Ryo turned to face the man she came to see.
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Post by Commander Shunsui Kyoraku on Aug 17, 2015 19:29:03 GMT -6
“Sorry about what, Captain Hirayabashi?” came the deep tone she knew well. The Captain commander stepped out into the twilight, waving the night guards back to their duty.
Seeing the haori on the ground, he knelt and carefully laid it over his arm. “Let’s get a drink, Ryo. You clearly have something on your mind.” He paused. "Or would you prefer some coffee?"
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Post by Captain Ryo Hirabayashi on Aug 17, 2015 19:38:54 GMT -6
Ryo shook her head. "I...I uh..." her voice broke as she fought back tears. "I have to get home. To check on the twins." She took a step forward before feeling the gently hand of the Captain Commander on her shoulder.
"Captain..."
Kyoraku squeezed her shoulder. “Let’s talk,” he urged. “Give the nightmares less power over you."
Ryo turned as the Commander's hand fell from her shoulder. She nodded slowly, wiping away the tears that had fallen. "Okay."
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Post by Commander Shunsui Kyoraku on Aug 19, 2015 15:01:15 GMT -6
Shunsui led the way back through the dark hallways to his office. Opening a door for her to enter before him, he offered another simple smile. “After you, Ryo-chan.” As she walked in, Shunsui followed and set his hand back on her shoulder, directing her towards a chair.
“Which do you prefer,” he murmured, walking over to a small oven in the back. “Tea with a kick or some hot chocolate?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ryo whispered behind him, miserable.
The Captain Commander paused and then turned around with a fresh cup of hot chocolate. “I think we will stick with the chocolate as per my friend’s recipe for calming chilled spirits.” He set the tall mug on her side of the desk and sat again at his desk, next to one already smoking on his side. He enfolded it around his calloused hands.
"Shall I start or you, my wilting flower?"
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Post by Captain Ryo Hirabayashi on Aug 19, 2015 17:14:27 GMT -6
Ryo shook her head, placing her hands in her lap. She remained silent, occasionally glancing at the Commander as he sipped on his own hot chocolate. After a few more moments, Ryo finally spoke up.
"I think it would be best...If I stepped down..." her whispers cracked as tears began to fall. "I don't know what else to do."
"Take a sip of chocolate, Captain," the commander murmured, his eyes calm, unrevealing. After she had taken the drink, he continued with his thought. "Why do you want to step down after all the time you spent fighting for it?"
"I think my marriage and my children are more important." she whispered. She slid her mug back onto the desk. "I love my family, Captain..."
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Post by Commander Shunsui Kyoraku on Aug 20, 2015 9:34:32 GMT -6
The commander remained silent for a few minutes while Ryo fidgeted with her cup. “Tell me, Captain, were you having trouble before Teruo’s night terrors?" He held up a hand. "And be honest. It's important."
Ryo's grasp tightened on her cup. "I would have come to you sooner, if we had been having problem before that bastard..."
Shunsui chuckled quietly. "Therein stands your answer, Captain." He sat up, looking in her teary eyes. "Are you so frail you would let a weak monster like Teruo ruin that which is most precious to you? Are his night terrors that terrifying and unknown?"
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Post by Captain Ryo Hirabayashi on Aug 20, 2015 21:55:52 GMT -6
Ryo shook her head, wiping away the tears that had fallen. "He always manages to kill me. In some way..." Pushing the mug away from her, she hung her head and cast her eyes down. "He kills me in battle. He takes the lives of my children. He takes the life of my husband...Either way it is done, I die."
Ryo looked to the Commander with eyes red from rubbing. "How am I to deal with that?"
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Post by Commander Shunsui Kyoraku on Aug 21, 2015 10:21:29 GMT -6
“You own your fears,” Shunsui murmured. He looked into his own cup. “The shopkeeper and myself were the first to succumb to Teruo’s wretched poison. I know its bite.” His eyes narrowed. “The fears wake fully-blown with the scent of fire, blood, and the cries echoing in your ears.”
He looked up but Ryo still sat dejected in her seat. He looked down again. “I lose my Nanao. She’s pregnant with my daughter but dies with a sword in her gut because she finally let me have her. Sometimes it’s Aizen and sometimes it’s someone we haven’t faced. We win the war…. but it’s finally too much. Juushiro dies choking on his own blood. Alone and forgotten because of my duties. I lose my sight and can do nothing but listen to the panicked cries around me, waiting for death to come for me… but it doesn’t come until all the rest have gone. Even despair is a sweeter mercy.”
He stood, drained the thick liquid in a gulp and then set the ceramic cup down. “The fears are terrible, Ryo, but the poison will lose its hold when you realize that it’s nothing but your own nightmares, more vivid, yes, more immediate too. But they are still yours.” He turned around, looking to the pale dawn. “You fear for your family and your future. It’s only human to do so. The scenario might be different, but when you have so much to lose, your fears will increase. Because you have more to protect.”
He paused. “But, Captain Hirayabashi, fear is one of the driving factors to our strength.” Ryo looked up. “We have always know there may come a time that Juushiro will pass into the next world, but does that make us abandon him to a quiet life isolated? Or do we care for him more deeply because of it? What drove Captain Kuchiki to take one of the most lethal blades head on - with no protection? Was it pride or the fear of losing one of the only things precious to him?” He turned around and set a hand over her own. “What drove the Kenpachis to their ultimate power and one of their deaths? Fear of the unknown and fear of losing something.”
A fire lit in his eyes. Remember your teaching, captain.....
If we dodge, we won’t let them cut us. If we protect someone, we won’t let them die. If we attack, we'll cut them.”
He released her hand and leaned back in the chair. “Fear is something you can turn around if you own it. It is NOT only his weapon.”
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