Toxic persuasion (Tanaka)

[Darkoda]

Night time at Sereitei and all was quiet within the Division 2 sleeping quarters. Well, that didn’t really say much; the seated officers moved about all the time without making a sound. The Special Forces did pride themselves on stealth afterall. But if one was to walk up to the quarters of a certain member, if his room wasn’t soundproofed, one might hear the very faint sound of a material rustling and something getting cut.

Darkoda Shin was still awake in his room, specifically in the centre of it, surrounded by masses of some black fabric, a series of nails and needles and some items hidden in shadow. Closer inspection would also reveal several books, some open to various diagrams and all of them full of plans and instructions to a certain project. The shinigami was clearly busy at work on something though, something very big. His latest endeavour only needed a few finishing touches until it was ready for its first field application. He knew it worked; he made sure of that before he even began this process. It took him months to learn how to do this properly, but it was already worth it. His new creation was something to rival the inventions of Division 12, and it had many practical applications that would make him use it anyway regardless of how its test ran. It didn’t change the fact that he made it for one main purpose though, to get a sample of the fourth seat’s poison.

As soon as Shin saw the effects of the poisons on Takeki’s zanpakuto, his interest skyrocketed. He made it a point to have a catalogue of all poisons in existence, and he was fairly sure that in his list, he didn’t have anything with symptoms along those lines. Excruciating pain, and a loss of vision, just watching it in action made it clear that it was quite effective, and when something caught Shin’s interest, he pursued it full force.

The first idea to cross his mind was the ridiculous notion that he could just ask the hood for a sample. That was dismissed as soon as it was thought of; why in the world would he actually do something like that? All that would do is make him even more paranoid, and it would tip him off that Shin actually wanted something from him.

The next idea was to simple steal a sample from him. The inherent problem in that though, was that even if he knew which pocket the poison was in, getting access to Takeki’s pouches was all but impossible. The only real shot he would have at it would be to go in his room, which was probably rigged to explode if a fly went in there. Shin knew for a fact that his room had enough death traps to at least seriously hurt anyone who entered without his permission. And even if they got out alive, it was impossible to avoid the reiatsu markers that would tell him exactly who was in his personal space, at which point he would determine if they went in any of the many hidden hiding places, and thus decide on how badly he was going to hurt the idiot. It could range from getting carved up like a turkey, to depending on Shin’s mood, him ripping off their legs and beating them to death. Or, if anyone dared to even breathe near his chocolate stash, he would do things to them that would make them beg that they were in the hands of Division 9. There would be blood wouldn’t even begin to cover what he would reduce them to.

Then came plan three, just bind the guy up and take the poison from the blade. It sounded solid; by getting the poison from the source he would be sure that he had the correct thing, but it had the problem that Takeki would be aware that Shin had the poison. That in itself wasn’t really a problem; once Shin knew the basis of the poison, he could modify his all purpose antidote pills to cure it even if Takeki altered the poison somewhat. The problem was that he would probably whine to Tsuno about it and the Vice captain would make him destroy the sample. It wasn’t like Shin cared about what Takeki himself did; if he tried to kill Shin, he would just get himself killed, and they both knew it.

Then, an idea came to mind. So simple, yet so brilliant. All it would require was for a certain item to come into existence, and it didn’t sound all that complicated at all. A perfect means of getting a sample of his poison, without him even knowing about it. All he had to do was to get into a spar with Takeki, and the poison sample was as good as his.

[Tanaka]

A spar, a solid enough plan, especially when dealing with what Tanaka viewed as the lower orders, namely those bloodthirsty morons of the eleventh division or indeed most divisions he had pinned as future line divisions in a set of planned reforms more radical to the seireitei than the Marius reforms ever were to Rome. However, he was not a member of such a division, no he was a proud member of the second and seemed to be as different to a sword wielding mad man as it was possible to be add to this a sense of paranoia, the fact he was more distrusting of members of his own division than any other, extreme caution when faced with the unknown and a loathing of open combat and it all came together to form a substantial mountain for Shin to climb. None the less he could try if he really was as obsessed by this as he seemed to be. If he was determined to find Tanaka the man could be found in his little office which the man made no attempt to hide, indeed it was even clearly labelled on the door. However, once you reached that office you began to get an inkling of the man who lay within. His room lay in something of cloister or courtyard. A small, subtle, understated ornamental garden lay in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by a simple covered walkway which was in turn surrounded by a series of inward facing doors with only one access pathway to the world at large. Everything here was done in a simplistic traditional style. Every door, pathway and window was just as you would expect to find if you had opened a door upon feudal Japan. Where this changed was Tanaka’s own little office. At first it was subtle, almost unnoticed, certainly a casual observer would think nothing of it but Tanaka realised none of his colleagues worth their salt were casual observers. What you would notice at first was that although his walls and door seemed to look just like the rooms around him he had no windows, easy to miss but significant. Tanaka was aware that a window, like a gate, was a week point in any defensive structure. So in this age of electric lighting he had none. Of course this in turn hinted that the walls were abnormal to, after all a normal shinigami can smash down a wooden wall almost as easily as they could break or jimmy a window and there would be little defensive point in removing the windows if the walls were unaltered. But since the outward appearance was normal there was no way of telling exactly what lay beneath the wooden facade. A more suspicious mind might also make the assumption that Tanaka did not like the idea of people looking in through his windows as well as him looking out and this suspicious mind would be correct. But by now all this thinking would be pure conjecture.

Assuming Shin were to extend common curtsey towards Tanaka, as he would be wise to do if he was planning to get the man’s consent to anything, he would knock on his door. In doing so he would feel that the door was far more solid than mere wood and though the tone of the knock seemed to have wooden note to it that note was short lived and rather than reverberate for about half a second it simply stopped dead indicating there was a substance not conducive to knocking just behind the wood. What then elapsed would be invisible to Shin, all he would experience would be five seconds of silent delay. Meanwhile, inside his office Tanaka would immediately stop his paper work and instead turn to a tiny little screen, about the size of the display on the back of an average digital camera. This screen was propped up on his desk like a picture frame and had crude wiring running down along the side of his desk and into the ground, clearly rigged up by his own hands. This wiring then led to a tiny unseen camera above the door which was roughly the size of one of those pinhole spy cameras you seen in those clichéd films. This provided a continuous stream of footage allowing Tanaka to see who was at his door without having to rise from his desk. He then paused for several seconds trying to second guess why this man was here. Tanaka was certainly no friend to this man, they had never even really met and thus he doubted this was a social call. So Shin wanted something from him, but what? Well, where there is an exchange their is often profit for the clever mind and so he decided to allow the man entrance for now. He did this by reaching out with his right hand and pulling a small leaver which looked as though it had been taken straight from the industrial revolution. There then followed a series of low clunks and a liquid hiss before the door slowly, and oddly silently, swung open.

What lay within was an odd mixture of not just comfort and function but also various styles of both. Working from right to left as Shin would see it from the door the first thing that would come into view was a work desk pressed up length ways against the wall. Above the desk were a series of shelves on which there were numerous jars stuffed with all sort from animal remains to strange liquids and papers as well as numerous metals and other materials. Shin could easily be forgiven for thinking that the poisons he sought were here but they were not, though there was no evidence to this fact. To either side of the desk were more shelves upon which were a large series of tools. One side was crammed full of saws, hammers, clamps and other regular tools you could expect to find in a DIY set or a carpenters tool set or even that of a garage mechanics. On the other set of shelves lay what looked like an array of lab equipment, from microscopes to test tubes and everything in between. Clearly this man was regularly up to something in here. Indeed his latest project was laid bare for all to see. What was clearly a zanpakuto, judging by the sensation emanating from it, lay on the work bench. It was not Tanaka’s own which of course begged the question where did he get it? That remained unanswered but what was more remarkable was what he had been doing to this blade. The front quarter had been completely sawn off and the tip had in turn either been cut or smashed into smaller shard like pieces. These then either lay neatly on the bench all labelled up or were suspended in various liquids being heated or indeed cooled or wedged in what looked like clear jelly wired up to some sort of generator. Perhaps the notes casually strewn on one side of the rough work bench could reveal the nature of what was going on but alas Shin would be disappointed. They were written in what seemed to be a bizarre mixture of illegible scribble and code unique to Tanaka. There would then be a brief space of empty, rough wooden floor which persisted in giving an off note as you walked upon it, before your eyes would fall upon the writing desk behind which Tanaka sat. It was a massive, ancient oaken thing that seemed so formidable and solid it had to have been made inside the room rather than brought in through the door. There were no ornate designs it was merely simple but very high quality. As Shin looked at it the left hand side would run straight into the wall and end on Shin’s right it would curve around through a gentle ninety degrees and run into the back wall. Clearly there was a segment somewhere along the desk which could be lifted up like access to a bar but so flush were all the joints that it was close to impossible to see where the lift up section was, though you could bet it was to the side since the desk directly in front of Tanaka was solid right down to the ground making his legs invisible. On top of the desk directly in front of Tanaka himself was a single sheet of paper on which he had been clearly writing, slightly to the left was a massive pile of papers all laid face down and he had only written on one side so Shin was confronted with a massive pile of white paper. On one side of the desk were a pile of various history books, military journals and field manuals from the living world armies for the past several hundred years. On the other side of the desk were several closed files numbered one through twenty. The page in front of Tanaka was not written in the bizarre scrawl he used for most of his work but he had only just started writing on that page so it was not clear just what he was writing. There were shelves all around lined with tattered copies of books from a wide range of subjects. However, on the wall behind Shin were an array of maps of all sorts of places, mainly though of the soul society and the land around it. On top of these maps were what looked like clear photocopy sheets which allowed him to write on the maps with thin felt pens and rub them out again. At the moment there were what looked like plans for the attack and destruction of the soul society with lines of attack, notes on weak points and strong points, areas of coverage, strength and spread of the thirteen divisions and so on. In truth Tanaka had been planning to attack the soul society so he could spot the holes in the defences and then make efforts to improve of fill those holes. Though on his own he was not of a high enough rank to do anything he could at least write reports and make recommendations. Tanaka’s leaver he used to open the door was hidden by the desk whilst the back end of the screen was clearly visible near his papers. The walls were undecorated wood whilst the chair in which Tanaka sat was vast, indeed as Tanaka sat in it the back arched over him. It was a classic grand Victorian arm chair lined with dark green leather and the wood had astonishing elegance and attention to detail. The design was of ivy wrapped around the arms and legs of the chair as though it were the bark of a tree. Opposite Tanaka there was no chair in which to sit, but stuffed in the corner of the room was a simple stool clearly for the use of those few guests who called on Tanaka and could be dragged up for people to sit opposite Tanaka. However, all of this could be a little difficult to see since the lamp hanging from the ceiling was off. The only illumination came from a small, dull desk lamp which illuminated the paper work in front of Tanaka.

Tanaka himself seemed well adjusted to this strange room and was found almost reclining in the great chair in which he sat. He seemed relaxed though this was a masterful facade, truth be told Tanaka was never relaxed, not anymore, but he was in control and appeared to be so. In this dark, poorly lit room his face, obscured by shadow in the brightest of day light, was now utterly invisible. Indeed his black robes on dark green material in a dark room made looking at him a strain on the eyes. You could only properly detect him when he moved and this he did. Slowly and ponderously he gestured to the stool which was propped in the corner, indicating that the man should sit. There was then a few moments of ponderous silence eventually broken when Tanaka said in tones as slow and understated as his movement. “Well...why have you chosen to disturb me during my most important work?”

[Darkoda]

It took the better part of the night, but Shin’s latest toy, rivalling his ‘special’ daggers hidden somewhere in his shihakusho, was complete. Shin took a moment to give his creation one final examination to ensure that everything was in perfect order; he went through far too many pains to get this done to accept anything short of perfection in his work. His smirk started to form as he did one last test of its capabilities. Everything was in order, now time to put it to work.

Sometime in the afternoon, specifically at 2:02 pm, Shin found himself walking along the halls to what Takeki called an office, and he called a war room. He knocked on the door, he did observe common decency despite what some people thought, and wasn’t surprised when the resonations of his fist seemed to be stopped within the supposedly wooden door. Soundproofed, and from the looks of it, reinforced. Shin took the moment before Takeki opened the door to observe his surroundings yet again; this guy was very high on Shin’s substantial list of people not to trust, so he was keeping an eye on everything.

It was a bit surprising to see the door open by itself, and Shin noted this for what it revealed; Takeki had the means of knowing who was outside his door, and thus probably had a hidden camera around the region of the door. He made a note to scan the outside area for it at a later date. His fox-like eyes passed over the room in what would appear to be a quick glance, but Shin observed everything within his line of site, from the off looking walls, to the multitude of books, maps and various other odds and ends scattered about the room. Those maps of Soul Society with what looked like invasion plans were a bit disconcerting for the naturally distrustful shinigami. The coded pages were a norm for Takeki so that didn’t particularly register to him. He noted the odd echo in the floor as he walked, enhancing his normally quiet steps, yet seeming to stop against the same soundproofing that the door possessed. The back of what appeared to be a monitor on the desk confirmed his suspicions about the hidden camera, and the general bad lighting within the room made it give off one aura above all.

‘Creepy...’

‘....as hell.’

It seemed that Kumori shared his sentiments, although that probably had more to do with the broken zanpakuto on his desk amongst the creepy looking jars and chemicals. Where did he even get that from anyway? Shin knew for a fact that his own blade resembled a dagger and was hidden in his robes somewhere, so who was the shinigami that got separated from what was essentially part of their soul? Shin didn’t think it was even possible, but his distrust of the man in front of him grew even deeper than before. If he wasn’t so bored, he probably wouldn’t bother with the acquisition of his poison anymore; there were other ways to find out what it was after all. But he had come this far, so might as well finish what he started.

Takeki finally deemed it appropriate to acknowledge his presence and shifted his body slightly, which was in itself hard to notice within the dark room, and gestured towards a stool in the corner with his impossibly slow movements that were the norm outside of battle. After another pause, he finally asked Shin what he was doing there in the first place.

His face in the same neutral state it almost always carried, Shin stated his purpose that he made sure to set up before bothering to come find the creepy, creepy man.

“I am here, because the two of us are going to have a little sparring match.” No questions, just stating facts. It wasn’t like he could effectively argue against it, not when it was a direct order. He should let him know that part at some point. Shin gave him a minute or so to think up an answer or whatever it was going on in his head, then told him the news that would seal his fate.

“Vice captain Tsuno is becoming curious about your current combat capabilities, since no one ever sees you train. So he figured that it would a good idea to see how you fare against someone who should be around your level.”

It wasn’t a total lie; Tsuno really was concerned about his fighting skills and wanted some proof that he wasn’t growing rusty. If he decided to ask Tsuno himself, the vice captain would make him train with Shin anyway, so one way or another, he was getting his way. Shin way fight with tactics over outright strategy, but that did not mean he couldn’t come up with a complete and efficient plan.

“Feel free to ask the vice captain yourself since you probably don’t believe me. I wouldn’t blame you; you would have no reason to trust my word.” Really he wouldn’t, Shin wouldn’t trust the word of anyone short of his Vice captain either.

[Tanaka]

Tanaka always observed people when they entered his office, not just for the obvious safety reasons, that is to say watching out for people attacking him or stealing his stuff. But also you could learn a lot about a man by judging their reactions on first entering a room. Coincidentally he would have been very pleased at the idea that Shin did not think of this place as an office but rather a war room, someone who at last thought of him as a credible tactician rather than a ranting radical novice. Maybe even someone worthy of Tacitus himself. No prizes for guessing what he was famous for. Furthermore he would have been very pleased to know that Shin found this place slightly creepy, even perhaps unnerving. This was chiefly because it put Shin, a possible opponent, on the back foot and gave Tanaka a psychological advantage, even if that advantage did not in reality exist as long as he thought it did that would give him the inner confidence to do things well. He watched as Shin’s peculiar eyes took in everything, the man was observant enough and oddly this, combined with many other elements of Tanaka’s personality, would work to Shin’s disadvantage. You see he had an odd way of thinking and believed anyone who was competent, observant, good at what he was good at, was a threat, an active danger. Especially when within his own division and of roughly his rank, the reasoning behind this was complicated to say the least and more than a little ridiculous but it never seemed that way to him. As for the zanpakuto blade, well he did not get it through the most reputable means and the owner was very reluctant to part with it and in a great deal of pain at this moment as a small section of his very being was torn apart not to mention the spirit it self was in utter agony since the experiments were no normal ones. However the shinigami was not dead, nor was any of this strictly illegal, merely immoral. Well perhaps by other peoples more soft hearted codes of morality and ethics. But still just how he came about the weapon was shrouded in mystery as far as Shin was concerned. However, things swiftly moved to business and as soon as the word spar came up his mind started working a million miles an hour. Tanaka never spared for mere training alone and he assumed that a man of Shin’s quality would think similarly and of course he was right. It was perhaps ironic that these two men may never grow to trust one another, works side by side. They could quite easily from a devastating plotting duo but mutual mistrust was a definite bar to this. The blatant declaration that the two would spar made him perk an invisible brow deep in the shadowy recesses of his hood. It was a combined gesture of ‘that’s what you think’ and ‘what are you up to?’ Before Shin revealed that this was a supposed order from the vice captain himself Tanaka simply asked. “Why?” This question, was of course swiftly answered by Shin. Apparently his esteemed superior wished to assess his capabilities. Fair enough, if Tsuno wished he could have a written report at anytime. But Tanaka believed rigidly in the chain of command and would not question the will of his superiors, if it really was their will. But along with that came the rigidity of process. He would rely on this in a few moments but for now he set it aside and struck at what he believed to be the real issue.

Shifting slightly in his eminently comfortable green chair he gave a slow, almost hissing exhale that was more an undercurrent to his breath than anything else and seemed to signal the thoughts rattling around in his mind. “This is about knowledge. You have admitted as such. Tsuno wants to know things and so do you I would be willing to wager, or else you would not be so keen on this idea. Fair enough, knowledge is power and I cannot blame any man for wanting power. I extend that to myself as well . Nor can I blame our second in command for wanting to know the capabilities of this division, in all likely hood he will run it one day. But you said yourself no one sees me train.” He then leant forward slowly, placing both arms gently on the desk in front of him. The move was not aggressive or threatening but it was sinister and even now, now when their faces were so close, still his face could not be seen. His voice was still slow, quiet, almost a whisper but with an odd smooth, semi permanent exhale that ran beneath every syllable. “You are a clever man, you know people, you can second guess them. I imagine you know me particularly well because though our personalities may be dissimilar or internal mental functions are, I would imagine, essentially the same. You even knew I would object to this sparing and so you arrived with these orders, fabricated or otherwise. I...” He seemed to pick his next word with undue care and caution before giving a semi amused snort under his breath and leaning back slightly and gesturing approvingly with his gloved hands. “Applaud you. But you must have realised I’m not going to like this. After all, why else would I train in seclusion? You and anyone with half a mind will have realised I am consciously trying to keep my true abilities hidden away. You are trying to flush me out and I can’t help but think you are going to succeed. I do not know whether or not you are trying to find something in particular out or just get a general over view. Either way you are transparent. But that scarcely matters. Your transparency is backed up by official orders.” There was then a slight pause as Tanaka seemed to think for a moment before pressing on with an almost quietly confident tone “Or are you?” He was still quiet and soft in his voice but he had a slight hint of ‘ah ha I have you’ about’ him. “In situations such as these, where no great urgency is required, written orders are customary if not required. Furthermore notification of those written orders are often given before execution. Especially when you are attempting to compel a senior officer, which I may remind you I am. If you had such orders you would have produced them and I would have known about them. I do not doubt your word.” His tone was now shifting to that almost forced politeness everyone uses after insulting someone but Tanaka was all too aware of the implications of his tone and thus his message was clear, he did doubt this man’s word. “But I do not move without official orders, signed and countersigned by two of my superiors within the division. You may leave.” He then gestured to the door, looked down and resumed his writing before adding almost casually without looking up. “Oh and don’t think of trying to forge the signatures. I am very familiar with the marks of all here and familiar with the art of counterfeit. ” He then silently returned to work and provided Shin did leave, as he would have to in order to receive the written orders, the man would hear an almost final thud as the door seemed to clunk shut with glacial inevitability, sealing him out. This would make things difficult for Shin, not only would he now have to find and persuade the vice captain but also either the first or third seats as well. On top of this the demanding of written orders would make it clear by implication that Tanaka was not happy at all, making the process even more difficult. After all Tsuno was clever enough to work out that demanding written orders was a subtle protest at being made to divulge information to a man of lower rank, couple this with the fact that this division had always been permitted a greater deal of intrigue than others and a quietly pressing case would be made but one that could not be objected to since it was never expressed directly and Tanaka could not be accused of disobeying orders, quite the contrary, he was asking for them. In an ideal world the orders would never be issued and Tanaka hoped that things would turn out ideally, but somehow he doubted it. So instead he planned on a more realistic series of events. Assuming Shin could get both signatures it would take him some substantial degree of time and time was all Tanaka needed. His quietly confident and victorious tones of a few moments ago were all part of this plan but shh....more of that latter.

[Darkoda]

Shin never expected his plan to go smoothly; no one with any sense plans for everything to work out properly. Besides, it would be far too boring if Takeki readily complied with his half-lie. His very accurate reasoning of Shin’s thought process was to be expected, after all, he didn’t find the man creepy because he was an idiot, and it was fairly blatant that Shin had an ulterior motive for wanting to train with the man. At the insinuation that Shin was lying about the orders, he couldn’t repress his smirk. Yes, definitely a worthy person to play against. If he wanted written orders, Shin would oblige, but first, time to put the screws to the hooded shinigami.

“I must also applaud your reasoning Takeki. You are more or less correct; I am only doing this because I want something from you, what exactly, is up to you to figure out.” Not that it mattered, he had no means of stopping Shin’s plan. “As you have also noted, I am going to eventually get my way. I should remind you that I am simply exploiting our Vice captain’s desire to see you train, and getting written approval wouldn’t exactly be difficult. You would have already considered this, and thus you are simply trying to buy time to gather the means to counter my goals.” Shin waited some time for his words to sink in, and then continued.

“I’m not sure if you took this into consideration, but with our captain deceased, Vice captain Tsuno is currently in charge of the entire division, and as such, this orders currently carry the weight of a captain.” At this his smirk grew wider. “Considering that, and the fact that are only two officers higher ranking than you at the moment, he is going to consider his signature alone enough to compel you into action, which it currently is.” Takeki had far less time than he thought he had to prepare, it wasn’t like Shin didn’t know where to find Tsuno at the moment, and with a few applications of shunpo, the only downtime would be waiting for him to fill out the official orders. Especially since Shin had no intention of delivering Takeki’s request the way he worded it. He really should have opted to talk to Tsuno himself if he wanted to delay Shin, but then he would be taking the gamble that Tsuno would then rescind the order, and if he didn’t, he would have no time to prepare beforehand.

Shin rose from the stool at Takeki’s clear dismissal and walked to the door but before he left, he added one last bit of information to the hood. “I have no intention of bothering to attempt to forge anything, so don’t worry about that.” Really, if he was going to try that, he would forged official orders to begin with. “But remember, you will gain some time to prepare from this, but time is a double edged sword for you now.” Exactly why it was going to work against him, was a matter left for later, but let’s just say that Shin was going to make a detour to Division 12 to borrow one of their inventions. Sometimes it payed to be well known in the research and development section of soul society. Now the game truly began, and it promised to be more interesting than Shin expected if his estimation of the man's planning skills wasn't an overestimation. He had about an hour or so maximum to get prepared for Shin's eventual return after all.

"Let's see who will be the victor in our little game, Takeki." The dark smirk firmly etched on his face made it very clear that he was looking forward to their next encounter.

[Tanaka]

Shin’s, all be it accurate, comments on the lack of a first seat were met with an almost smug and derisive snort followed by words in a slow and soft way as ever but still with the arrogance and self complacency of that snort. “The seat still exists on paper and all power of an unoccupied seat go to the next man up, not the next man down, though in reality these powers are then often delegated back to the immediate junior in preparation for promotion. None the less, officially the general can sign for the first seat and has to do so during formal procedure. Do you really want to bother him over all this? But I must say you should have a better knowledge of process.” He then allowed himself a small, quiet little chuckle and a casual dismissive gesture, dismissing his own words mind you. “Still, you can always get the third seat eh?” Silently he believed that Shin would find a way around procedure or that no one would bother enforcing it strictly and one name would be enough or some other circumstance. But anything for a delay, anything for a delay. Shin’s comments about not forging anything prompted what was often interoperated as an insult but from Tanaka was something of an odd, disguised compliment. “Oh I would not put anything past you.” It took a deviant mind to approve of deviance but he recognised it as a sign of intelligence and admirable moral flexibility. After all what use were morals when they prevented the completion of the objective? Tanaka would not break conventional morality for no reason what so ever but he would break it more easily than most, as the zanpakuto demonstrated. But his guiding light was this, he did everything for the soul society as a whole and would do nothing to undermine it and actively admired deviance and ruthlessness in its name. After the door finally closed behind Shin he set to work.

Though everything could not be said to be going according to plan Tanaka was at least managing the situation. His ever military mind thought of the hundred days, the last great effort of Napoleon and in this little analogy Tanaka was Wellington or even Blucher during the Quatre Bras phase of those fateful days and Shin was Napoleon. Shin was good, Shin had out manoeuvred him, come across him in a masterful and somewhat unobvious move. After all the obvious thing to do would be for Shin to try and spy on Tanaka training just as Napoleon could have cut wellington off from the sea but had instead opted for a different path. Tanaka, just like Wellington and Blucher, was in no position to mount a proper defensive, they could not stop Napoleon. So instead they delayed Napoleon and gave him the illusion of victory in their retreats and defence of Quatre Bras whilst all the while they were preparing a more solid defence further up the road. To Tanaka this whole duel was going to be like Quatre Bras, he would seem defeated but not deploy his true strength or ability but give the appearance of doing so. Hence his triumphant tones of a few moments ago, the almost smug confidence. He was pretending that these were his full efforts, that this was the best he could do but he was instead holding back, he was going to let Shin think Tanaka had been outdone. However, it had to be a convincing dupe. Hence his casual return to paperwork signifying his confidence that he would stop the duel through demanding orders when he in fact knew this plan would fail. He knew Shin would think he was up to something but delays were used to obtain an advantage, it was unlikely Shin would realise just what was going on.

Once he was sure he could not be seen Tanaka swiftly rose from his desk and set about his work. Lifting the little entrance to the side he moved to his work bench and gently shifted the broken zanpakuto as well as all the related experiments to the side, taking great care not to disassociate any of them from their labels. He then started by taking out an old, coded, series of notes from a small draw with the legend SB1 at the top and –SB1 half way down. Presumably they were some form of recipe as he proceeded to concoct a great deal of the mixture from various herbs and plants as well as a few more artificial chemicals and did so with the use of much of his lab equipment. In the end it took the form of a clear, water like liquid which would be invisible in thin coatings. He then created –SB1 as well and labelled both clearly.

He then went back behind his desk and pulled out his back pack and pouches. From these he then proceeded to remove numerous vials, small boxes and little parcels and arrange them on the work bench . His gloved fingers moved to the first set of items which looked like tiny little sacks, which they were. Inside was a mix of explosive powder and small shrapnel shards, very nasty, very nasty indeed. What Tanaka then did was strange to say the least but it was the start of a pattern of similar events. He proceeded to pour the powder through a filter, removing the shrapnel shards. He then removed one third of the explosive powder and replaced it with sand before sprinkling in small wooden shards instead of the modified metal ones that had been there previously. The devices would still explode but not with as much force as before. Enough to hurt, stun or rip flesh depending on the scenario but not enough to rip off or cripple limbs. On top of this the shrapnel would now barely cut the skin instead of rip and tear arteries as before. He was making himself weaker. He then attached the fuses which could be either set off by a hardy impact when outside of their protective box or set off by trip wire depending on how they were rigged. He then located a series of similar little balls, different in that there was only a green dot on the side of these, and did the exact same thing until it came to adding the shards, he arranged the wooden splinters as before but now drizzled them with a small vial of the recently made SB1, before continuing to seal and fuse the parcels. The true shards of both he then placed in a small box, with a definite division in it and the shards never mixed.
He then turned to creating twice the number of these self sabotaged parcels and then placed each of this second number in much thinner boxes clearly tailor made to take one parcel each, further more each of these boxes had a small arch, like a loop hole at the top, furthermore they each either were non dotted or had a green dot to match the parcel within. He then proceeded to rummage even more in his pouches and produce four decent sized lengths of rope, roughly three to four meters in length and proceeded to attach ten non dotted little boxes to two ropes, five per rope and did the same with the dotted boxes to the other two ropes. He then placed these ropes in slimmer boxes which he removed the draws of his work bench . He then went through his vials and placed a great many of them in a small box specifically designed for the purpose but left out two numbered S1 and –S1, however it should be noted every vial in the set had it’s corresponding minus number. He placed these to the side of his bench for the moment. By now roughly thirty minutes had passed, he had roughly thirty remaining. He then moved to removing the camping gear from his pouches as well as his poison crafting kits and placed the smaller boxes with the rope inside in the empty space in his pack and pouches. Then placed the box containing the individual parcels in another pouch on his belt as well as adding the vials he intended to carry into battle. Anything conceivably relating to combat remained save for a large collection of needles kept in a box with green dot on. He removed these needles and instead replaced them with a set drenched in that same SB1 before putting them back in his pouches.

He then turned to his treasured, and concealed, zanpakuto. He shifted his robes and drew the device out with a reverential, even lustful slowness. Of course he did not lust after the thing but it was something he treasured and admired, and it was his only friend and sole confidant. He lay it on the table with a soft little sigh and whispering. “Sorry old friend. You are not going to like this.” Dashing over to a small dark corner of the room he removed a large water barrel. After all, how else was he to have a drink in here? He scooped out a mugs worth and set it aside before throwing in soap and various other cleaning fluids including bleach and the like as well as numerous oils and a heavy dose of –S1. Then exchanging his normal cloves for rubber gloves he set about washing his blade vigorously, very much so in fact. The poison which clung to this blade was designed to withstand submersion in water after all but this would be just enough to clean everything off entirely. He hammered away at the task with great vim and vigour, meanwhile inside his mind his blade protested. “What! What are you doing?” The voice was deeper, louder, more animalistic and enraged that Tanaka ever was and seemed as though the mouth was permanently spraying spittle when angry but still had that breath, almost reptilian quality Tanaka possessed. Purely within his own thoughts Tanaka replied. “Shin wants to learn, Shin wants to know things, he wants to know my strengths and weaknesses and I cannot blame him. I do not yet know if he intends to do me harm but like him I have friends in twelfth division and thus I know of his involvement there. We really are two very similar people. That being said I must assume he intends to gain an advantage over me, an advantage I will not let him have. I cannot avoid the fight but I can hurt his goals, I can limit what he knows. I am sabotaging myself, making my traps and bombs less powerful, lessening the number of them I would normally attach to a rope. I will not pre rig the arena as I normally would. I will not lay traps, my venoms are being toned down and so on. I do not know what particular aspect of me he wants to learn about so I am toning down everything. Indeed I plan to make sure even my release stays under wraps. I will pretend to put up a fight but I am not relying on or planning on victory, though I will fight for it, all the better for me if I do win having damaged myself. If victory is his, as it may well be, it will be a hollow victory, where he will learn little of my true capabilities. None the less I admire his efforts. But if he thinks he can force me to show my true ability or force me into a pyrrhic victory he is most wrong. If I am forced to loose a petty, insignificant, repercusionless duel in order to win a greater victory then I do it gladly. After all if this were a promotion or graded duel there would be a great deal more ceremony and certainty to it.” His zanpakuto replied only by giving a strange chuckle before returning to obedient silence. Once the washing was done, which took some time as far as washing goes, he then applied a coating of SB1 to the blade and smiled invisibly beneath his hood. SB1 was a venom but unrelated to the normal coating S1. SB1 merely created a strong pain and worked by a stimulating rather than corrosive method, completely different. He then went about concealing his blade once again and checking all the rest of his equipment that he would carry into battle. He tucked a spare crafting knife up his sleeve as well as a number of the SB1 soaked needles.

All of the removed items he placed in a larger box and then, with some degree of effort shifted his whole work bench aside. Bellow lay a complex series of traps and alarms which he carefully disarmed in a seemingly random order. However, the order was a trap in itself and if done incorrectly was liable to set all the traps of. This in turn revealed a small stone slab with a slit in it, drawing out his blade again he thrust his zanpakuto into the slot and it fitted like a key. He then, removing his gloves, cut a tiny slit in his thumb, a single drop of his fresh blood sizzled away as if super heated when it touched the stone which then slid away, revealing a small recess into which he tucked this little box of secrets. Plastering and bandaging his slit finger just in case he then replaced his normal gloves, removed his blade shifting the stone back into place and carefully rearmed the traps before lifting, rather than sliding, the work bench back into place. His preparations were now all but complete and the hour was almost up. There remained only one thing.

Sitting casually back at his desk he resumed his writing, adopting that same casual, arrogant air as before, presenting the facade of a man confident in a victory he did not truly believe in, one he kept up well since he reminded himself of what he thought to be an upper hand in this greater game. He had one more surprise for Shin, according to the ancient customs of duelling the challenged traditionally got to decide upon the set of rules or weapons and Tanaka would play one more card here. Shin’s leaving comments about preparation being a double edged sword made Tanaka inwardly smile now, perhaps it was a ruse like his, he did not know, but it gave the impression Shin was genuinely trying, he wanted to win and was going to use some clever tricks to attain victory, this was good, this was very good but for now he continued to work on his book, he would be discovered as he was left, confidently writing, dismissing any thought of Shin’s possible victory.

[Darkoda]

Forty-five minutes after Shin left Takeki, he was walking along the corridors to his war room yet again, full of anticipation of his opponent’s next move. They were deep into the middle game now, with the end game not far behind and Shin wanted to know what Takeki intended to do to defy him.

If Takeki thought that his desire for two signatures would keep Shin back for any length of time, he was sadly mistaken. All he managed to accomplish was to make Tsuno write a personal note, ordering Takeki into the duel under the terms that Shin would report the outcome, and his opinion of the hood’s practical skills before Tsuno decided on what to do about him. It gave Shin a potential method of blackmail, although he doubted that he would be able to exploit it to any worthwhile degree.

‘You do realise what he will do right?’

‘I know, he believes I want to observe his fighting style so he will do the logical thing and hold back. A good idea considering his options, but not highly effective. No matter how much he tries, he will have to put up some semblance of a fight if he wants to convince Tsuno, and stop me from sending him to 4th Division. I will simply amplify his fighting style and gain a reasonable picture of what he’s capable of.’

‘If he is going to hold back, what’s stopping him from not using his poison at all?’

A very strong point, and one that Shin had considered at the beginning. It really couldn’t be helped, it was the inherent flaw present in his plan from the very beginning. It was the risk he took, but even if he didn’t get his original goal, he was going to gain valuable insight into Takeki’s plotting skills and overall threat level in a fight.

‘It is entirely possible he won’t use the true poison, but I find it hard to believe that he will go without any poison. If it is similar to the one I want, then it doesn’t matter. If it isn’t, I’ll still get an idea of his tastes which will make it all the easier for me to determine the real poison the long way.’

Shin did put methods in place to potentially sway Takeki from removing the venom however. The entire point of their conversation was to play on Takeki’s paranoia to the point that he might get sloppy in his preparations and miss something. His trip to Division 12 truly was to get an item, but that was completely unrelated to his game with Takeki. While Shin did hate to lose, he wasn’t willing to allow Takeki anymore insight into his battle skills than what was common knowledge in the Division, which really wasn’t much. As such he would refrain from using his daggers to their full extent, and wouldn’t use some of his more personal techniques. Besides, he had no trouble with appearing to lose if it forced Takeki into a pyrrhic victory. The sheer irony of that situation alone would keep him amused for at least a week.

Once again, Shin found himself at the odd wooden door, and after the usual wait, entered and delivered the official orders to his opponent. “The game is coming to a close Takeki, there are only a few more exchanges before we charge into the endgame.” A moment’s pause to allow for that to sink in. “It’s time to play your last cards Takeki, our field of battle has already been decided.” While Shin doubted that he would go through the effort of rigging the field if he intended to hold back, it was wise to be cautious around this man, thus he had Tsuno choose a random sparring area for their match. It wouldn’t do to walk into a death trap after all, he wasn’t sure of the extent of damage his invention could take yet.

[Tanaka]

Tanaka had never thought that demanding two signatures would slow Shin down for any significant amount of time but it did him no harm to at least try, who knew it might have worked completely and even if it did not it did not cost Tanaka one second of preparation time. What was more surprising, or at least it would have been had he known about it, was the idea that this duel actually counted for something. Tanaka was secure in the knowledge that this was a pathetic, meaningless duel. Had his career hung in the balance he would certainly have known about it but Shin seemed to be labouring under the idea that if Tanaka under preformed here he would be transferred or over looked for promotion in a shocking departure from his beloved process. If this really did turn out to be the case several very bad things would happen to a surprisingly large number of people, quite possibly including Tanaka himself when he is murdered by a mob of very irate people bearing a grudge much like the way Caesar was murdered in the senate house, or possibly something akin to murder on the Orient Express where they all did it. No matter what the end result of such proceedings he doubted it would come to that because the idea that this truly mattered was so outlandish and laughable it had never even crossed his mind. It was merely a tool through which Tsuno might fulfil some vague curiosity and Shin was trying to obtain some long term tactical advantage which Tanaka would prevent with truly murderous intensity. Indeed assuming Tanaka won this little spar he was torn between rewarding Shin for a well done Machiavellian effort or beating him senseless long after the man surrendered in order to teach the man that this kind of behaviour was Tanaka’s privilege and he would not tolerate it being used against him, especially when it came from his junior. He had yet to make up his mind on that last little point. But it did not matter right now, he had to win first and he still doubted whether he would, he did not even really care. All he cared about for now was knowledge. Oh, it was true enough that he would use some degree of his own styles and tricks but everything was watered down and as for the venom, well if Shin did try to use any captured samples of SB1 to try and form a preventative or cure to S1 he would laboured in vein, it has already been illustrated that the pair worked on two very different systems, though of course Shin had no way of knowing this, he could guess at best. Indeed Tanaka smiled slightly at the idea of using this venom as any starting point to creating a cure to S1, it would drag the man down completely the wrong path no matter which way he went about it. None the less, as he thought this he gave a slightly start of realisation and made a brief little note on a scrap of paper on his desk. It read S2, S3, S4, S5. This note was then circled twice as if of great importance. His eyes then gently drifted to a set of syringes, it was tempting, very tempting, but he stopped himself. It would be giving too much away. Though he did go back to his little scrawly note and wrote down the word hose. After a few moments thought he then added the words spray paint. He then proceeded to look around his little office once again and saw so many, many things he could do and in a real fight that he should do but opted not to do right now. He had one more little move that he would shortly play but it was at this juncture that he heard a knock at his door.

Making sure he was sat comfortably at his desk he looked at the monitor feed and waited a few moment before pulling that great industrial leaver tucked away behind the wood and watched as Shin entered the room in what seemed to be an almost triumphant matter. Tanaka took the written orders slowly and did not seem to read it but rather scan it past his ever hidden eyes like a machine would read a barcode. He then sighed slightly but was inwardly smiling. There was a flaw here, a small one but one that could possibly be used to his advantage if things went very badly wrong. However, he would not call this to the enemies attention and so simply gently placed the orders inside one of his many desk draws. A slight shift in his hood seemed to indicate that he was looking up at Shin but still he was silent, even after Shin had stopped speaking there was a good ten seconds of loaded silence that lasted just long enough to be awkward. Inside Tanaka’s mind one word was hurtling around his head like the bullet train, and that word was game. He gave no outward sign of it what so ever but there seemed to be a fundamental difference of philosophy between them, Shin was treating a real life situation like a game of stratego and Tanaka was treating it like a real war. That annoyed him inwardly and greatly. To him this was a very serious matter and he treated it with appropriate gravity, that did not mean he could not enjoy it, you are allowed to enjoy your job but the moment it becomes a game something is very wrong. But he displayed no outward sign of this, he was merely silent and very still. He then rose with glacial slowness and a tiny, whisper of an almost groaning breath to go with it. Once upright his hand rose gently as if about to catch a ball thrown by a child but no ball came, just when his hand reached to about the height of his shoulder his tall staff seemed to burst out of the ground as if spring loaded and snap into the extended hand which clamped around the object like a clam. In truth he had popped it up with a tiny movement of his feet but behind the desk this was plain invisible and the entire effect was slightly unnerving to most. Still, he was not saying anything. He merely moved his left hand to the very largest pouch on his belt which was close to the back it seemed to grasp something and now he chose the time to speak. “As the challenged party tradition states I am allowed to pick the method or rules of engagement, traditionally this was a choice between pistols and swords. I however, have only these rules. No death, unless accidental of course, no permanent or long term loss of anybody function and no shikai or bankai. Those are the rules.” He did not even wait or a reply after saying this. Instead his hand finished doing whatever it was doing behind his back and he then removed an S6 style gas mask, in appearance at least. With one hand he thrust this into the dark recesses of his hood and checked the tints and flash dampers over the eyes with his fingers, it was a testament to how dark and dingy this room was that still his face was hidden and indeed only after they left what Shin delight fully referred to as the war room would even a hint of this mask be visible. Since his voice was now slightly muffled by the mask you might expect it to loose some of its sinister edge but if anything this effect was amplified, it was still as soft and quiet and slow as ever but something about that mask made it all the more sinister. Checking all his pouches and pack were securely fastened and carrying their proper load he gestured out of the door with his staff, he wanted Shin to leave, after all Tanaka had to lock up as it were. When Tanaka himself left he allowed his staff to drag along the floor for a few moments and the door slid slowly shut behind him as if of its own accord. What was even stranger was that, now on the outside once more, you could see this door had no key hole. But Tanaka was paying attention to none of this, instead he merely said. “You have the advantage of me, I do not know where we fight, lead the way.”

(( OOC: By the way Dark, once again I hate to say something and just as before at the moment it is not that big a deal, but it could become one. It is to do with Tsuno and Galihan. Obviously I don’t mind and was even expecting you to just say you got his signature. It was necessary for flow nothing could have happened without it and I doubt he would mind either. I doubt..doubt. I don’t know. But now you are talking about transfers and grading, assessment etc with Tsuno’s blessing. Might be pushing it a bit now. I’d ask him, Zhiel got annoyed about something similar with FC but less so a few days ago. You may have already PM’d Galihan or something. I don’t know, if you did then ignore this but I’d still ask him since you are now assuming things that could be regarded as potentially important. I admit I am partially at fault for making you get a signature but I think this is starting to push it now and I just don’t want anyone to get blocked. I’m just trying to avoid an argument or reprimand here.))

[Darkoda]

Shin watched Takeki glance over the note in much the same manner he appeared to read things. He had no means of knowing what the man thought of the note, but either way it couldn't hurt Shin's goals so he dismissed brooding about it as a waste of time. More importantly, during his little speech about their game, while he couldn't be sure, he could have sworn that for a moment he detected a hint of anger in the air. If that truly was the case, then it was about time, Shin was starting to wonder for a moment if he was losing his ability to annoy people. Besides, if he was angered, which most people would be after everything that happened, it would give him even more reason to fight properly. After all, outside of a couple of people, no one was aware that Shin was much stronger than his rank would imply, and the desire to hurt Shin would override any notions of holding back due to a belief that he was superior.

The hood chose this moment to rise up, and stretched out his hand. Shin was wondering what he was up to until he saw his staff fly up into his outstretched hand. That was a neat trick, probably meant to intimidate Shin but it was going to take more effort than that to affect his fighting mindset. Upon hearing Takeki's terms of battle, Shin simply inwardly smiled. He forgot about that tradition, but in the end it didn't mean much, since Shin had no intention of doing anything of the sort. That wasn't to say he wouldn't threaten mass injury to get some reactions out of him, he just wouldn't do anything permanent. Shin took note of the gas mask that Takeki fitted on his face. It may not mean anything, but it gave the hint of a gas attack in the future. It was worth remembering under any event. He then gestured for Shin to leave, and followed soon after.

"You know you might want to invest in some lighting for your war room, I'm surprised you can actually work in there without knocking over anything." Well he wasn't really, the lighting wasn't that bad and with the lamp nearby he would be able to see everything just fine, but it had the potential of annoying him, so why not?

"Our battlefield would be this way, Takeki." Shin walked off, making sure that Takeki never ended up directly behind him, out of his line of sight though. He really did not trust that guy not to attack him from behind or something, although that had more to do Shin’s distrust of nearly everyone than anything. The time was at hand for Shin’s creation to be put through its paces.

[Tanaka]

Tanaka seemed to ignore Shin’s comments about lighting, any facial expressions were now utterly concealed behind his mask and since he remained silent there was no way to tell what he was thinking. However, inside he was silently giving a tiny parody of a chuckle. He was laughing partly at Shin’s own efforts to annoy him which were transparently obvious at this stage and partly at the use of the words, war room. It has already been suggested that he would find the term pleasing and indeed he did in an almost smug self inflating kind of a way. Tanaka was a man with an ego, that much was for sure and the grandeur of the term war room appealed to him greatly. It made him sound as though he were running a war and deciding upon the fate of millions of lives and though that may not be strictly true for now he was certainly planning on that in the future and he was indeed laying down plans in his so called war room. So if anything Shin’s little plan to make Tanaka annoyed had backfires as the man was both amused at Shin’s vein efforts and pleased at the description of his environment. Once the duo started walking away Tanaka noticed how eager Shin was to keep him in view, an eagerness that seemed to border on agitation. Deciding to oblige Shin and put him at his ease he fell in by the mans side so he could at least be seen. Walking along now you would see his movement was as strange as his speech. He seemed to take one pace to everyone else’s two or three yet he managed to keep up. Perhaps he was taking giant strides beneath his robes, perhaps not but if you thought about it for too long it was liable to make your head hurt. He also moved oddly quietly, no foot fall, seemingly no rustle of his clothes, the only sound to mark his movement was the tiny little click of his wooden staff taping upon the ground. Aside from this he was silent for several long, almost slow motion moments before something seemed to stir in his hood, shown only by the shifting folds of the fabric as his face was not only concealed but he was looking directly ahead, not looking at Shin at all. “Do I detect some agitation Mr Darkoda?” It was a sign of his western origins in life, despite his name, that he addressed people as Mr and never used any more oriental honorific’s at the end of names, old habits die hard. But that was not the most noticeable thing about what he was saying, as ever his speech was ever so slightly unsettling slow and quiet with that same strange quasi constant breath that seemed to underline all his sentences, even hold the conversation during his near silent pauses as most people would instinctively not interrupt him whist he was making any kind of noise, provided they were of the polite variety indeed he always had a hint of the sinister about him. But now his words seemed to be ever so slightly broken, occasionally leaving a semiquavers pause in the middle of words or ever so slightly stressing words incorrectly, putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable for instance but it was always small, enough to be noticed and cause unease but not enough to prompt an interruption or hinder understanding. It just gave him a slightly unearthly quality. He was even dragging his s sounds but not enough to sound like a snake or even give a reptilian feel, rather just to feel wrong, someone who was ever so slightly out of place, as if he were one second out of sync with the rest of the world or should be half a dimension over. “Why would you be so concerned? It would not be in my best interest to do you harm. After all, what would our superiors say?” He then gave his usual parody of a chuckle or laugh and though no different to his normal amused utterances it seemed all the more unusual for the words that proceeded it. That little half exhale that seemed more a combination of a slight moan and nasal breathing hiss decorated with only the shadow of a laugh than an actual chuckle. “No Mr Darkoda, I want you in top condition so as that my inevitable victory will be all the more absolute.” He split the word condition almost into three separate words and gave that same hollow, shallow laugh as before. Though, truth be told, he would be pleased if he beat Shin that was not the purpose of this little provocation, remember this was a game played for information and nothing more. Indeed, partly to that end, though there were other goals behind this action, he was altering his speech to make it just a little bit more unnerving than normal and adding those unusual breaks and so on. Though as he experimented with this he was secretly enjoying it, he was considering doing this all the time though only considering.

Unless Shin talked more or replied Tanaka would remain silent until they reached the agreed battle ground, though he had not actually agreed to it he was not going to protest. If he won, no problem, if he lost he could blame the ground, though that was a weak plan, a very weak one, and if it had been rigged well then all the better for him. All he had to do was claim sabotage and walk off. However, when he arrived no traps were obviously present, though he supposed Shin could have come here first and subtly rigged it. Taking place a little outside of the walls of the soul society, to avoid any accidental damage should things get out of hand, the majority of the land around was simple open grass much like you would find in most people’s gardens. This patch of grass was approximately the size of five medium sized detached houses put together. On the south side of this open space was tall grass coming up to just below the waist, this in turn bordered onto a small, wadeable river which babbled along at a pleasing, gentle pace which, if stood in at its deepest point, would come up to the mid thigh. Beyond this were more, tall grasses which could perhaps be better described as reeds leading into rough, untamed weeds and shrubs including the dreaded bramble. On the western side was a field of boulders, rocks and other rough, barren terrain. The rocks ranged from pebble to man sized boulder and were randomly spread on soil which was a mixture of sand and dirt tightly compacted. On the other two sides the land ran into lush evergreen forest complete with shrubs and weeds and the hints of creatures within as bushes and grasses rustled. Indeed there were the standard assortment of woodland creatures within. The only other noteworthy feature was a small log cabin or house such as a fisherman or lumberjack may live in. Indeed it was reasonably obvious the place had no electricity or running water, the height of technology within would be a gas lamp and a wood burning stove. Thankfully the place was currently unoccupied but it seemed to be recently lived in judging by the high state of maintenance and the general cleanliness of the place. Now on a soft surface even his staff seemed not to make a noise as it gently hit the soft earth beneath it. Taking position with his back to the river and tall grass he slowly gestured with his staff to the far end of the clearing. “Please, take your position Mr Darkoda.” Then, as Shin moved to the designated spot Tanaka slowly reached into one of his many pouches, laying his hand on something but not removing it whilst simultaneously checking his right handed grip mid way up his staff. Just as Shin would reach his position Tanaka said as a last little word. “Your move Mr Darkoda, your move.” There was a slight hint of a sinister smile to his voice. “Time to see if this gambit of yours pays off.”

[Darkoda]

Takeki chose to actually oblige Shin and walk at his pace, where Shin could easily keep an eye on him. That saved him some trouble. Right now though, Shin found Takeki’s own little attempt at intimidation quite amusing, right up there with his statement that he would actually win. Shin had far too much experience with verbal battles to be fazed by what anyone said, and they both knew that it was quite unlikely that Takeki was going to win if he didn’t intend to put any real effort in fighting. Of course it was possible, and far more likely, that he was subtly referring to the real battle for information going on between them, at which Shin would concede that the final victory could go either way. Considering the situation, while Shin was inevitably going to learn something about Takeki, he would most likely have to give a little information in exchange.

“I simply prefer to keep people around me in sight, in our occupation it is somewhat of a necessity.”

It was as far as Shin was concerned, and not just because they were assassins. Throughout his life he had to keep an eye on everything around him to avoid getting jumped by random gangs, and the years he spent travelling in Rukongai in his death was even worse. The passerby you disregarded could be the same person to stab you through the back a minute later. No matter what, unless Shin believed that someone could be trusted, he never relaxed around them. It was what kept him alive, and he had no intention of giving up the habit.

They finally arrived at the outside training grounds, probably selected to make sure they didn’t destroy anything important; it was a fight between two high seated officers after all. Shin walked over to the other side of the grounds as Takeki took up his position. As was already mentioned, Shin did not like anyone being out of his line of sight for long, and thus walked quite quickly to the other side, his senses already open for signs of a sneak attack. He turned around and heard Takeki give him the first move.

“Yes, let’s see who can learn more from our little.....spar.”

While saying this, Shin raised up both of his hands, each one with a finger pointing forward. His left hand was aimed at the pouch that Takeki’s hand was in, and the right was pointed at the joint of his elbow. Anyone with kido experience would be able to identify the stance as the one for a particular destructive art but there was no way to know which hand the attack would come from.

“Hado #4, Byakurai.” Shin’s left finger released a stream of white hot plasma aimed for the pouch. If Shin was lucky, whatever was in there was explosive and they could start this fight with a bang. Takeki would most likely dodge though, which was where the other finger came in. He simply aimed his other finger at the elbow joint and fired a second stream of plasma. There was no way to avoid both without actually displaying some actual skill, which was the entire point.

‘What will it be Takeki,? Your fighting style or your body, something is going to give.’ Really, did he honestly believe that Shin wouldn’t attempt to force the issue even with his rules in place? Shin’s attacks were easy enough to avoid that any injury he received would be clearly his fault, and not dodging would cost him the use of his right arm, not to mention the fact that the ligaments there would be completely burnt. Not a permanent or even long term injury, keeping with the rules, but still guaranteed to require some quality time in Division 4.

[Tanaka]

Tanaka was watching Shin as carefully as Shin was watching him, he was just not so obvious or agitated about the whole affair, he accepted silently everything Shin said, the man had unquestionable wisdom that much was for sure but he had not yet been forgiven for his childish attitudes displayed earlier, indeed he may never be forgiven for them. But we are getting ahead of ourselves here, it is far too early to say if Tanaka will carry some long term grudge or resentment and a lot would focus upon the outcome of this little duel. Even Shin’s final words before battle commenced were met with silence, the time for talk was at an end and Tanaka was not a man accustomed to speaking in battle, even supposedly friendly ones such as this he would only talk under two circumstances, if he was advising someone on their style or if he was so enraged that he would scream defiant, furious battle cries into the sky and even then it was more noise and gnashing of teeth than words. Furthermore he only did this when truly berserk and that was a site never before seen he had an uncanny ability to keep calm after all. Shin’s body was indeed easy enough to read, those fingers were close to unmistakeable. Though the problem was which blow would come first Tanaka responded very simply and in a manner that could counter any real combination of blow orders or combinations. As Shin raised his own hands one finger that was curled around Tanaka’s staff extended to point straight at Shin’s chest though no noise came from Tanaka, at least no noise that could be heard. Truth be told though he was muttering very quietly to himself underneath his gas mask which, over this distance, would obscure soft whispers. He had developed the habit of whispering whilst out in the field where saying incantations loudly was a good way to get found and killed very quickly. His whispering was however clear and he had an ever so slight syllable advantage which in his own mind at least gave him a little quick draw advantage. “Hado number one, sho.” This was of course thrust, a technique used to stagger, knock down, or push away opponents and more than adequate for his current needs. It would not project a visible beam of energy or the like, dodging it was more or less pure guess work based on the direction the finger was pointing in and since his little trigger phrase had been to quiet to hear it made things all the more complicated. In itself it could not hurt anyone but Tanaka was trying to knock Shin whether he knocked him over pushed him back some distance or merely staggered him it was all the same to Tanaka, either way Shin’s aim would be thrown off and the white lightning bolts would go wildly off target. Just in case they did not Tanaka took the precaution of turning, momentarily to one side in a manner akin to an old pistol duellist, his right facing Shin, his left facing the river with his head turned to look at his adversary. Even were Shin on target this would result on his profile being narrowed on both sides which would result in both bolts missing.

From here he half spurred forward, half twisted to face Shin properly in order to dash towards his opponent and closing some distance. He was no longer using his staff to walk and those who had never seen him fight before would likely be shocked at the idea that this man who seemed to move like a snail was capable of dashing around like this. His staff was now held almost diagonally across his body and Takeki had one finger still extended on his right hand and although he was muttering no incantation at this point he had it there, at the ready for any funny business once again giving him a slight, but decisive speed advantage in most cases. His left hand stayed firmly in the pouch until he was roughly four meters away at which point it snapped out like spring loaded leaver and on the end of that lever was a savage long tongue. It was of course a rope which would seem slightly abnormal but it was unlikely anyone would notice the slight bulges along the much of its length considering the speeds this thing was whirling around at. The initial snap would be long enough for the tip of the rope to snap against Shin’s chest like a whip before it was snapped back to be whirled rapidly above his head like a helicopter blade or a cowboy attempting to lasso in errant bull. This would happen if shin was hit by or dodged the snapping of this whip like object and throughout all this time the finger on the staff was pointing, ready and he would ignore Shin’s words and remain utterly silent, thinking nothing of the provocations, of the choices put to him. Aside from incantations he would stay silent behind that mask.

[Darkoda]

If Shin was aware of the true reason behind Takeki’s anger, the hood’s ranking in his mind would have immediately plummeted. That was one of the most stupid reasons possible to be angered. So Shin considered this match little more than a game, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t taking it seriously, it simply was ranked as a game because all things considered, it had little significant importance. This was all simply a means to an end, and holding a grudge over something like that would be far beyond any amount of childishness Shin was capable of. But of course, Shin had no means of knowing what went on within Takeki’s head, which brings us back to the current situation. Takeki’s response to Shin’s attack was to use a level 1 hado to attempt to knock Shin down. While it had no chance of doing this to Shin, not from that kind of distance especially, it did manage to stagger his aim enough that the first shot went considerably off target. He readjusted his aim for the second shot, but Takeki did consider that likelihood and turned to the side, avoiding the second stream.

‘Well, at least he isn’t going to just lie there and get beaten.’

Well, it seemed that Takeki chose to go on the offensive, charging towards Shin with his finger still extended, ready to fire more kido. Unless he wanted his finger broken, it was likely that he wasn’t going to get very close to Shin, and this wouldn’t do. Shin started to sprint towards Takeki in turn, and had to dive forward to the side when he saw the hood’s hand whip out and a long object shoot towards him when he got within 13 feet or so. A whip huh? In that case he probably didn’t need to bother to move; at his pace, it was unlikely that the tip would have snapped on him, but he already dodged so might as well make the most of his close range. His roll put him within 10 feet of Takeki, and he sprinted at the hood again, keeping an eye on the whip and that finger of his. Contrary to popular belief, it was quite possible to tell if a thrust hado was coming, the rush of reiatsu towards you was a dead giveaway if you were paying attention. There were other kido that could be fired from that hand position though so it was best to keep open to possibilities. The whip itself would become less of an issue as Shin got closer, making it harder to wield the whip properly, especially since he would soon have other issues along the lines of Shin attempting to punch him in the face. If the staff came into play, Shin’s left hand would be put to work to intercept any blows; he was hardly concerned about getting hit from a piece of wood. If it got annoying, he would just break it with one of the many daggers within his robe.

[Tanaka]

Takeki was unsurprised to see that the whip like attack had been dodged, it was early days yet but the man’s reaction to the device had told him something very important indeed, but more on that latter, if ever. He permanently kept his eye on his opponent and since as soon as his most recent attack had missed he ceased moving forward, now instead he was pivoting on the spot to face his opponent at all time so as not to be flanked and thus when Shin rose from his roll he would be attacking the very front of Tanaka. His ten foot distance was more than ample and as soon as Shin’s course was discernable that great rope, being used as a whip, would swing down from its position on high. At this distance it would crack on Shin’s head and then the excess length would give some considerable extra reach if he opted to jump backwards. Takeki’s staff was still held diagonally across the bulk of his body, from here he could easily stab out to either side or sweep across his front if need be. This however, was his reserve option, though his whip like response was his counter attack if that did not work and Shin powered through the attack Takeki would simply use thrust once again, after all his finger was ever at the ready. Last time it had been enough and at this close range it would prove far more effective were he called upon to use it.

In his mind Takeki wondered just what his opponent was trying to do, this kido and bare fisted attack was not going to produce any significant results, at least not in terms of information. This meant either Shin had not thought this through, that shin was as paranoid as he was over his secrets or the man had some other way of luring out or obtaining information, this put Takeki on an even higher state of mental alertness and ever fibre in his being was watching out for dodgy tricks and lures.

((OOC: I apologise at how short this is and how long it has been since I posted, it has just been epically busy around here recently, but any way I must be off again. Once again apologies.))

[Darkoda]

As far as Shin was concerned, he was in danger of losing the fight, not because of Takeki’s skill, but from falling asleep in the middle of the battle. Really, he expected the hood to hold back but all he was doing was waving a rope – a rope with some bumps on it according to Kumori – but still, that was just boring. The only hope was that the bumps on the rope were something at least remotely interesting and not knots tied in to make it hurt more. The hood pivoted after him, making sure Shin was always in front of him – standard competency – and the staff was in position to be used as a weapon if Shin got close, although experience dictated that he would try to push him away with thrust yet again. Shin was feeling tempted to stop holding back his reiatsu so much, after all, he didn’t particularly care if people knew what he really capable of, especially since he wouldn’t know that was only half his power; the only things he intended to remain secret was his ‘special’ daggers and what his shikai was fully capable of. The only reason he was hiding his skill so much in the first place was because while he may not care, he still wanted the hood to work for it. Besides, even at half power he still had the power of a strong 4th seat if he actually tried, and he was seriously questioning Takeki’s own power at this point.

The potentially rigged rope came down, this time aiming for his head. There must be something odd about that thing, no one could possibly be stupid enough to think that they could hurt any shinigami by smacking them with a length of rope. If he wanted the man to do something involving either actual skill or his poison though, he needed to fast forward this stupidity. He started muttering an incantation too quietly for anyone not right next to him to hear – thinking about it now, that was probably the point of his mask, to muffle his voice – while he went into action. A slight change in direction, a flash of steel, and Shin’s zanpakuto was swung through the air in a clockwise arc, and unless Takeki somehow made steel that could bend like a rope, severing that whip. Shin didn’t stop moving during this, and he attacked Takeki with his blade and his kido, well if Takeki managed to hear the kido anyway.

“Hado #33, Sokastui.”

Hopefully, it wasn’t overpowered. Logically it should work fine though, it wasn’t his first time using the kido, and it was nothing more than half a Soren Sokatsui. Ah well, if it ended up too strong, more incentive for Takeki to defend himself properly unless he wanted to be roasted, and by defend, Shin meant something besides thrust; after all there was no way in hell that kido was blocking his, and Shin was fairly sure he could break that stick of his with his fist, a zanpakuto was likely to slice through it like butter. He did remember that he wasn’t trying to kill the guy though, so he swung to only give him a light cut across his chest. Anyway, he still needed to see his poison so incapacitating him was not an option. Still not any real effort on his part, but it should move things along.

‘Just kill the guy and call it an accident, this is beyond boring.’

‘No.’

‘Come on, just let your sword slip a bit and cut a few organs. It will be fun.’

‘No, I’ll never get away with it.’

‘Remove the evidence.’

‘I’m not letting you eat him either.’

‘You’re no fun.’

Great, now he had to deal with a sulking fox demon after this.