[9th] Week 27: A Good Night's Rest

[PeaCe]

1,065

"Dangerous?" Dai asked, situated on the other side of the room, slashing at a practice stand he'd brought with him; Zanpakutou training.

"Highly," Sho replied, flicking through one of his books, muttering a passage to himself and reflecting on it. "Did you know that while Bankai takes many years to achieve normally... there's much short ways to achieve it?"

"Stop reading your book and tell me about what happened. I haven't seen you for days, I finally catch you at home and you don't even want to talk about it!" Dai groaned, sheathing his Zanpakutou; a bargaining device no doubt, he was willing to stop training with his sword if Sho was willing to stop training with his mind.

Sho caved, closing the book after quickly marking his place and tossed it onto his work desk; a large wooden structure, covered entirely with books, paper and research notes to the point where the actual wood was seen in scarcity.

"So you went to your building and bumped into this girl right?" Dai accentuated the last part, implying something highly different to the truth.

"Yes, Chima Mieko," Sho replied, "And no, it's not like that. Believe me; I wouldn't want it to be like that, she's more trouble than she's worth." Sho looked at his friend, who despite what he had just been told, retained his goofy smile.

"What happened next?" Dai pressed, his first few days had been nothing exciting at all. Filled with training and more training, this would continue until he could stand no more. It was so reminiscent of the academy; Dai did not even feel like a graduate.

Sho frowned, "She called the Captain to ask what to do with me and somehow this initiated a lockdown and we were punished. He found a mass amount of boring jobs to do and divided them between us. Mieko got one involving helping Kaiho-Taichou of Squad twelve with her new computer system, but the Captain decided to reassign me to the task moments before it was due to start."

Dai stood with his jaw hanging open, "You got to meet TWO Captains?" He asked, "Sho you lucky son of a"”"

""”Not as fun as you'd be made to believe," Sho interrupted, "After non-stop work I was forced into helping her and the computer system proceeded to malfunction and blow up in my face; her doing I believe, but I have no proof."

Dai once again let off a goofy grin, however this time he returned to his training. "I want to achieve Shikai Sho," he stated, hacking at the training dummy as if this were an academy test. "I want to climb the ladder of success!"

"Shikai huh?" Sho questioned his friend, "Sounds like a lot of work to me. I'm slowly dabbling here and there, hopefully I'll get it within a couple of months, a year or two maybe."

"A year or two?" Dai replied, chuckling, "Not if you train hard Sho! If you train hard, it'll come really naturally."

"What are you two on about?" Said the familiarly peppy, venomous voice of a woman from outside of Sho's room. Barging in without asking permission, Mieko slid aside the door and stepped in, taking quick note of Sho's paper-infested room. "A little too involved with work Sho?"

While Sho himself considered the goggled Mieko with her extremely long lab coat to be worthy of an average stamp in the looks department, Dai swung and missed the training dummy upon seeing her walk in, causing damage to Sho's wall; Dai obviously held her in a higher regard.

Sho watched as a large slash mark was carved into his wall, while not breaking through it; the damage was certainly above average. Sho turned to stare Dai in the eyes and his best friend did the same. There was almost a spark of electricity flying between them before Sho got up and rushed at Dai, tackling him to the floor.

"Idiot!" Sho cried, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

While it took some effort to throw Sho off, something Dai hadn't been expecting, Dai managed to break free and rolled away, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. "My bad, my bad," Dai apologised, "I was just captivated by the beauty that entered the room."

This went unheard however, as Mieko walked over to Sho and helped her squad-mate to his feet. "It's just a wall, Noboru," she assured him, "Knowing you, you'll have it fixed in a flash anyway."

Sho grinned slightly, also not noticing Dai who stood angrily in the corner, ignored and alone. "What brings you here?" he asked, "...and how do you know where I live?"

Mieko grinned, closing blinking and giving Sho the thumb's up. "I checked the roster, of course. It keeps track of every room held by our squad members! I came to say thanks for taking that job for me!"

Mieko withdrew an apple from her pocket and handed it to Sho, she also pulled out a second, but this was for herself; Dai felt left alone once again as the others took no notice of him.

"It was all I could find, thanks for taking that Job earlier," Mieko stated, "I'm actually in a hurry, I'll catch you later." She took a bite out of her apple and slipped out almost as fast as she had slipped in.

"That's Mieko?" Dai asked as Sho finally remembered he was in the room.

"Yeah... so?" Sho asked, confused.

"She's gorgeous Sho! You lucky"”"

""”Like I said earlier," Sho interrupted once more, "Believe me when I say that you wouldn't want it. Believe me on this one Dai, I'm not messing with you. I don't even know why she was being so nice, first time I've had her do something nice without ruining it a few seconds later."

Dai grabbed his training dummy and shook his head, "Are you really that blind Sho?" he asked, grunting and stepping half-way though Sho's doorway. "Will you ever forget about"”"

""”Goodnight Dai," Sho said sternly, "Have a nice rest. I know I will." Dai stood staring at Sho for a few seconds before sliding the door shut behind him.

"Christ..." Sho muttered, getting off his chair and falling back onto his bed in the corner. "I really do need a good night's sleep."

 

[PeaCe]

[9th] Week 27: Rave C4

1,182

"What are you working on?" Dai asked, glancing beyond Sho and looking at the desk where Sho was frantically fiddling with a device he had on the table. "Is it useful? Would I be able to use it?"

Sho was growing agitated now, "Perhaps it's useful," Sho replied simply, looking into a book he had opened next to this small device. "Perhaps... it is not."

Dai shot his friend an agitated look, "Why are you being so cryptic?" he asked finally, "I'm your best friend Sho; you can tell me what it is that you're making. I came out here just to see you and look how you're treating me."

Sho groaned, "I appreciate the thought," he replied calmly, "But I don't remember inviting you, so please excuse the fact I'm very busy at the moment. If you want to stay that's up to you, but I'd rather not be annoyed at this moment."

"I bet it's some sort of battle device right?" Dai asked, "I bet it's a little thing you've been working on to help you out against the tougher foes!" Dai seemed overly excited now, thinking that if it was indeed a battle device, he was somehow entitled to an early copy.

"Dai, I'm not sure you really understand what I'm doing here," Sho replied, "I can assure you however that it will indeed be finished soon and that it'll come even sooner if you don't annoy the hell out of me." Sho still did not look up, that would be even more of a distraction, one he could not afford.

"You're on one of your rolls right? Where you just can't stop? You used to do that when we were alive as well back in Tokyo; albeit with fairly limited resources compared to what we've got here!"

"How did you even get in here?" Sho asked, making reference to the fact they were in a small research room in the Research and Development Building.

"I asked for you," Dai replied, "Its not that hard to walk up to one of the other Shinigami and ask for you. I was directed to some sort of chart they had going and you'd booked this room for some private research."

"Yes Dai, private research." Sho stopped messing with the device and turned, still sitting in his chair and looked into Dai with his frustrated and tired eyes.

Dai stared blankly at his friend, "...Yes, private research," he said finally after some moments had passed, "...What are you looking at me like that for?"

"It's private research Dai!" Sho finally shouted, "Leave! Shoo! Scram! I'll. See. You. Later!" Sho groaned as Dai gave him yet another goofy grin, apparently not convinced. Giving up, Sho turned away and got back to his work.

"Oh fine Sho, being all anti-social again." Dai turned and departed from the room and Sho breathed a sign of relief.

"Finally I can get back to my work," Sho muttered to himself, but this did not last. Sho was granted a mere twenty seconds of good work before he heard a familiar voice call to him through the locked door.

"Open up~!" Cried Mieko from the other side of the locked door, "I've come to see your research!"

Sho slammed his fist down on the table in frustration, loud enough so that only he could hear. He got up from his chair and walked over to the door, unlocking it and letting his fellow squad member in.

"So... whatcha working on?" Mieko asked, rushing over to his table and taking a look at what he had on it.

Sho walked back over to the table and sat back down, too determined to finish what he had started. He slowly sat down and felt ever so uncomfortable as Mieko placed her hand on his shoulder and rested there, watching him work.

"So... are you going to answer me, or are you just going to continue to sit there and ignore your friend?" Mieko grinned as Sho turned around with a highly frustrated look on her face.

"Dai asked me the same thing... the difference being he is my friend. I hardly even know you."

Mieko frowned, "Oh, that's not very nice. I thought we were getting along really well!" She pulled up a chair that Sho had brushed aside and sat next to her "˜friend', continuing to watch him work.

Sho turned his attention to the computer sitting in front of him and brought up schematics of a room with a large stage and a large congregation of people. "It's for use here," he explained, finally caving in to pressure, "It'll be revolutionary."

Mieko stopped talking for several minutes, staring at the image on the computer screen. While this was a welcome change of pace for Sho, he couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking.

"Revolution?" She muttered, turning to Sho, "At a large congregation of people?" Mieko looked at Sho, almost frightened, "What sort of weapon are you designing?!" She cried, "Is it a bomb!? Is it a bomb Sho?!"

Sho jumped back as Mieko almost lunged at him, but she was doing well to control herself. "Hell no!" Sho cried, "It isn't a bomb! Damn, why would you think that?" Sho pressed another button the keyboard of the computer and the people began dancing to music that began playing.

"I don't understand Sho?" Mieko asked, embarrassed for having thought what she had just thought. "What exactly is it?" she asked, now turning her attention to the dancing people that were on the screen. "A device that makes people get up and dance?"

"You could say that," Sho replied grinning. He grabbed at a screw driver and sealed the last screw tightly in, finally happy with his now completed work. "Finished!" he cried in excitement.

"Oh! Oh! Do I get to see?" Mieko asked, with Dai walking in the door at that moment.

"Hey Sho"”" Dai noticed Sho handing the finished device to Mieko to take a look at. "Oh I see how it is," he grunted, "She gets to stick around, but not me huh?"

Sho rolled his eyes, "Both of you can watch." Taking the round device back from Mieko he pressed a small button on it and tossed it into the air.

The Device did not hit the ground however, small fan-like device powering on and keeping the ball afloat. The device expanded to ten times its original size and lights of many kinds began to fly around the research room.

"A Disco ball?" Dai and Mieko asked in tandem, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, I think we'll call it the Rave C4 in honour of Mieko," Sho and Mieko laughed, but Dai himself did not understand the joke.

"Wait... she gets it named after her?" he asked angrily as Sho powered off the device with a small remote and caught it on its way down.

Sho got up and let out a sigh, "Oh, don't even worry Dai. I'm not even going to bother explaining," he stated, chuckling and walking away, content with his new device.