Pho
Member
Pho as Tabawara Udo
Minja as Hikaru Miyazaki
“Sheesh, the neko sure is persistent.” Hikaru groaned sourly and looked over his shoulder as he ducked into a small tavern. His sensei Adele Pierce had been chasing him all day screaming about training since she picked him up from the fourth. Hikaru wasn’t too keen on being followed on his personal business by unwanted guests and had tried to lose her on several occasions. Finally he had succeeded and decided to treat himself to something sweet in this new establishment.Minja as Hikaru Miyazaki
The mage threw his cloak over his head as he walked into the dark environment and waited for his scarlet orange eyes to adjust, and they widened as his gaze fell upon the counter, “Wait a minute... Is that Udo-san?” he asked himself as he approached the green haired man. As he neared it became more apparent that it was his superior Tabawara, the eighth division soul reaper who taught him Kenkyouka recently. Hikaru smiled brightly and took a seat beside him to greet the larger soul reaper, “Tabawara-san how are you? Its me Miyazaki.”
Udo turned around to see that it was indeed Miyazaki next to him. He put down his drink and said, "Why hello there Hikaru-san, fancy seeing you here. I'm doing well, how about you?"
"I would have said the same thing about you Udo-san." The mage replied happily, "What brings you to Rukon, I'm trying to escape my sensei."
"Me? I'm just having a drink. It's good to get away from work every so often. I don't exactly need to do anything to escape my sensei."
Udo laughed at his own joke, but on the inside, a feeling of disappointment grew. There were two lessons pressing their way forward from the back of his mind, ones that he couldn't rationalise a way out of. Firstly, divisions are structured such that they barely function, if at all, without a captain. If he stayed in the captain-less Eighth, he would be in the same situation he was in, back in the captain-less Ninth. No progress. Secondly, the reaper's time in the Eighth taught him that those on the front lines are hurt the most by a lack of information. So if he really wanted to protect them... the Eighth was the wrong place to be. He had heard that the Ninth had a new captain who was doing well, so perhaps...
Udo blinked and shook his head to break out of the unexpected moment of introspection. He said to Miyazaki, "Sorry about that, it turns out I do have things on my mind. Anyway, back to the original topic, why exactly would you want to escape your sensei?"
"Aya, she's been coddling me all day," the mage griped irritably. The real reason Hikaru had been avoiding his neko was because had things to do. In particular leaving the Seireitei, with all these strange occurrences lately: Reshin's paralyzed arm, his shikai, the dream catcher and boyhood home showing up? The man needed a release from the stress; a visit to see Choko would help clear his head.
"I just got back from the fourth division yesterday, and Adele is worried about the jerk who sent me there. The last thing I need is for her to worry about me." Hikaru sighed as he took a seat beside the green-haired man, he was easy enough to talk to and was to the point. Maybe he could ease his mind a bit.
"Ah. There was this one time where I acted like a coddling sensei, except there were others present so I got told off very sharply. Sometimes people care a lot about their comrades, and can overlook boundaries they should not step over. It's tricky sometimes, knowing what you should say and do, and what you shouldn't. Sometimes there are laws that try to answer that question, but sometimes they can be silly. On the subject of not being sure what to say, or not, there is one thing I need to ask you about. Nevada said that you attacked a civilian in Rukongai, is that correct?"
The smaller man’s eyes widened sharply in surprise and he looked down, obviously embarrassed about the situation, “Yeah, I sorta did.” Hikaru sighed shamefully and looked away, he’d forgotten almost all about that incident. While he was with Nevada used a low level bakudou in Rukon, to subdue a civilian who had somehow made off with his mother’s dream catcher. Then five minutes later, he had mental breakdown and passed out. “But I did it with good reason! Well... ‘A’ reason at least.”
The boy sighed and relayed the situation to the superior in as much detail as he could, hoping his actions wouldn’t piss off the space mage too much. He was already in trouble with Adele for fighting Reshin, he didn’t need another superior pissed off at him. “Then I threw my zanpakutou into the wall beside the two of them,” he said, words tumbling out of his mouth like a waterfall after the winter thaw, “and started to walk away with my mother’s dream catcher. But before I could go, I got this weird headache and my blade appeared in my hand. Then I passed out.”
When the soul reaper finished he was slightly out of breath, on account of not breathing and looked up at the green haired man, awaiting his answer. Oh God, if I live through this I’ll be happy, Hikaru sighed.
Udo furrowed his brow and looked at Hikaru very, very closely. He wondered, What should I do with this one?
In a lower voice than usual, he said, "As long as the civilians didn't actually get hurt, there is no problem on the diplomatic front. When it comes to your self-control, on the other hand, we clearly do have a problem. If a soldier cannot control himself, his opponent will. Remember that."
The mage blinked in surprise and leaned back in the chair, I’m not quite sure how to feel about this. Should I be scared, or relieved? He chose to simply accept the advice for its simplicity and nodded, “Yeah... Thanks but, I’m not in trouble or anything like that?”
"Net yet, this is just a warning. Both you and Reshin could become officers yourselves, if you each learnt more self-control. I'm sure that like most shinigami you would be happy to accept a promotion. Also, I heard that you two chose Keeji in your fight, why that one?"
"Well, I'm not really sure. I've seen Adele use it often," he paused, and stroked a bit of stubble that had formed in the fourth. Why had he used it?
"Well I guess I've been influenced by Adele's use of it, though it didn't seem to do much but blow me up." Hikaru sighed and crossed his arms thoughtfully, in retrospect putting his opponent in a cage where he can't reach them isn't smart.
"Exactly."
Udo leaned on the bar with his elbow, resting his chin on his hand. He explained, "While a cage does hold a target in place, which is good enough for a pure mage, a sword mage wants to be able to reach their target. More compact binding spells are better suited to this purpose, like Tensoku, Rikujoukorou and Saju Sabaku. Thinking about that, overall what's the most powerful spell you can cast?"
“Um, as far as the ones I know? Or theoretically?” It was a difficult question, he’d never really thought about it before. The strongest one he’d ever used had been Raging waters or something, and that was Getsumei who did it, not him. However, he could probably do something in the fifties if he put his mind to it, “Theoretically I think the forties is as high as I can go without dying.”
"Hm, okay. There's not many binding spells amongst the bakudou in the thirties and forties, but I faintly remember seeing someone use one that was... number thirty, I think? That one might be good for you, although since I don't use it I won't be the one to teach you that one. Anyway, back to an earlier topic, did Reshin do something to irritate you?"
An irritating topic, the shadowy soul reaper Reshin Izukawa. The most he had really done was attack him outside the eighth division barracks though that was months ago. “We got into it at the gates one day as I was returning from the fourth, right after my match with the captain Adelaide.”
HIkaru unconsciously crossed his arms over his chest and began the full retelling of the story, explaining how he had tried to be cordial with the rude spellblade, then having his crutch stolen by him, and left unconscious in the rain.
It was not a pleasant memory.
After listening to Hikaru's little story, Udo said, "Yeah, you certainly do deserve to be angry with him over that. Trying to kill each other over it doesn't help though, because that can mean one or two less shinigami before even setting foot on a real battlefield. I think I've hammered the point into you enough now, so instead lets talk about something else. What could have possibly possessed you to challenge Adelaide?"
Now if the last situation was a sore subject, this one was a raging boil. The spellblade hadn’t in fact challenged the seducer captain; she had challenged him, then agreed not to use her zanpakutou in favor of pillows. Obviously of course this was ignored, “I didn’t challenge her, she came after me and agreed to explicit terms about the fight,” Hikaru grumbled, “We were supposed to be using just pillows, she decided to release shikai and bankai instead.”
There wasn’t really much to tell about the incident, unless he wanted to hear the events of the fight in detail. Hikaru had found the notice on the challenge board, replied with his conditions, and she agreed. The next day after his fight with Satoru they fought, and she broke her agreement quite flamboyantly.
While Hikaru may have been surprised with this turn of events, Udo wasn't. He said, "Oh. Typical Adelaide, mockery and setting things on fire. What would've happened if you didn't accept?"
“Beats me, she didn't say anything besides her wanting the match," Hikaru pondered this thought for a moment, she didn't seem hostile at first, I guess looks can be deceiving though.
The mage shrugged, "I wish I knew, but its not like I could do much about it though; I mean hakuna matata right?"
"I've never heard that phrase before, but sure."
Udo gulped down the last of his drink and said, "I figure now's a good time to start the walk back, how about you?"
“I suppose so.” Hikaru stepped down from his barstool and stretched, yawning slightly. He hadn’t realized that he wasn’t breathing correctly.
“By the way, I need your consent for something. There’s an old friend of mine I want to visit on Earth, and I haven’t heard word from her in a few years,” he began turning toward the stoic death god, “would you allow me to visit earth tomorrow morning?”
The amethyst-eyed mage stood up, stretched out and said, "Sorry, I don't have the authority for that, and personal visits are disallowed anyway."
Udo glanced up at the sky and said, "Well, there might be a way I could get the authority to open Senkaimon myself, but that method doesn't help you. Anyway, good evening."
The officer gave a little smile and a wave and started the walk home.
[1923 words]