Don't Mix With Ammonia [Hitoshi/Kanae]

Morning dew brushed in a faint breeze against the Gotei's training grounds. Several of the lower members of the fourth were lounging around, engaging in the odd brawl or actually practical sparring. In Hitoshi's eye, he saw a yard of saps. Probably half drunk, half high. All retard.

His gaze slipped across the grounds, his self gliding through. Early sun making no leeway into his parasol's shade, Hitoshi looked nothing less than bored, and nothing more than scornful. Sanzukiko nudged at the back of his mind with calm platitudes that ultimately meant nothing, even if the man understood her notion of caution. Yet so far, the captain had proven profitable.

Whatever that fully meant, he didn't know. Or, particularly, care.

"Captain." the Kurata hailed as he approached Kanae, a raised hand dipping slightly into the sun. "How was the human world?"

Since recovering from her do-or-die battle with that atrocious fiend Asher, Kanae had felt more unhinged than ever. Every thought in her head, even as she remained hidden behind a veneer of civility, was of brutality and slaughter. Images of cleaving the Hollow general's head from his shoulders, melting his flesh, and slowly and precisely removing and pulverizing his organs in front of him were at the forefront of her mind at all times. More deranged was how these images morphed into similar ones of everyone she passed in the halls of her Division's barracks.

Still, Kanae stood, a silent observer of her squad's morning training regimen. Their pathetic flailing set her eyes ablaze with malicious hatred for every single one of them. It was becoming more and more difficult to remain the tough-but-supportive Captain. Kanae's true self, the lurking predator just below the surface of her false persona, was coming closer and closer to piercing the vale. The malevolent Zanpakuto spirit constantly whispering horrors in her ear was doing her no favors.

Kanae sensed Hitoshi's arrival the moment he stepped foot on the training grounds. Her violet gaze remained trained upon her subordinates as he approached, just as it had in their first meeting months ago in this very spot. His question nearly elicited a response of violence, but she remained in place and answered him with a viciousness in her voice "Hitoshi Kurata. Beneficiary of the Gotei's war efforts, of my efforts, against the infestation of Hollow trash in the Living World. Why are you in my training grounds?"

Why, training, of course. My patience. Hitoshi's face betrayed no provocation, a shift in his stance as the arm lowered back to rest across his chest. Relaxed, if one could mistake maintenance for ease.

"You speak of war. We speak of business. Yet the words seem much the same, to where we think it possible to communicate." His hand gestured, sweeping broadly across the grounds. "Or, you could reduce this to nothing. Rotting away with whatever punishment comes down from on high."

Hitoshi would begin to slowly glide forward, the stillness of his shadow ignorant of the sun above. "We believe there is much to be communicated. Much to be desired."

The Kurata's words were firm, unfaltering against Kanae's antagonism. As many that came before, he spoke as much with as without, no threats, no idle thoughts. A neutral party meaning no harm.

Of course, that didn't make it truthful.

Though she hadn't purposely meant to be so snappy, Kanae also didn't feel regret over her words. Such trivial emotions like guilt were for the weak, meek little rabbits and rats running about waiting to be hunted. Hitoshi didn't seem to be harboring those kinds of feelings though. Still ratlike, sure, but in a conniving way that could be of use to even a predator.

Though her rage had only grown since that mess in the Living World, Kanae restrained herself from acting out. The thin veneer of sanity under which she normally remained hidden had cracked in the days following her battle with Asher; whether it was due to finally releasing Tosatsusha's true power again after a millennium, or because she could only fight the creature to a standstill, the cause mattered far less than the result.

"I grow weary of your flowery speech, Hitoshi Kurata. I understand you nobles can be a bit fruity, but speak plain. What do you wish to be communicated? What do you desire?"

He considered frowning, or giving some other external validation of his anger at her impudence. Her lack of grace, respectability. Such frustration is not befitting. If only she was more receptive.

Not your average dog to cur. He'd acknowledge, for once, his zanpakuto was correct. In his mind's eye, he could see that she responded with a smile.

"My desire, Captain Nagoshi, is that we can work together without such hostility. Although we understand if you are to misplace the frustration my sister may be causing you, it has become far less manageable for the Kurata over the last month. Imagination lends one to believe it not much easier for anyone else." Another step forward sounded the end of his speech, shadow looming behind him.

His sister? Shura Kurata. That woman. A never-ending annoyance, kept alive by the thinnest of patience. But she was hardly a concern in the grand scheme of things to Kanae, who promptly waved off the mention of her name. "A fly buzzing around is of little cause for concern or anger. Your sister is nothing. No more than a nuisance. My wrath is aimed elsewhere, and I have little worry for fools caught as collateral damage."

Kanae considered the status of her plans, the ones she had spent a thousand years formulating only to have to go back to the drawing board as her targets had all somehow managed to find themselves killed before she could gift them death herself. Unbelievably, that monster Yamamoto had perished, and only within the last century or so. This had left her at a bit of an impasse. Did she care enough about the ants who replaced him atop the anthill? Were they worth killing? It didn't take long for her to settle on an unequivocal yes. She needed allies though, loathe as she was to admit it. That was why she humored this man with an audience, and for that reason alone.

"Casual meetings in my training yard won't do much for our little...coalition. If we are to work together, a more formal structure should be established. I have some ideas."

"Nor should she be." Hitoshi spared no emotion for his sister's reputation, anger or otherwise. "And if you consider anything I do casual," the man's voice shifted, a glimmer in the dead pond of his gaze, "then perhaps we do need to discuss 'structure'."

Still, it was somehow emotionless - with a passion, if nothing else. Because Kanae showed an inkling of interest, and he didn't want to let up? The anger bubbling underneath boiling his outward façade? Potential growth, even?

Nothing so clandestine.

"I'm willing to hear your ideas. And you will return the favor, surely." Another step forward, emerald pools shifting from the woman with indifference. As he stared into the distance, his conviction remained honed onto the captain. "There's much to be done, after all."

Gaze slipping back to Kanae, a dot shifted slightly on his brow. "Shall we find somewhere to discuss the future?"

"Hmph. You have no eye for optics, Hitoshi Kurata. The Gotei has no love for you or your people, and marching your way onto my Division's training grounds puts their sights on me as well." Annoyed, Kanae turned and started off in the direction of the barracks when Hitoshi asked if there was somewhere more private they could move their conversation to. Instead of going in the building though, she changed direction again and began walking along a path that followed its perimeter instead.

Eventually she, with Hitoshi likely in tow, would come to an unassuming entry door on the side of the Barracks. Upon entering, it would be clear it led directly into her own office. "This exit was installed so I can come and go without hassle." Kanae gestured lazily, waving her hand in the direction of a chair on the other side of her plain, unadorned desk, for him to sit. She followed by taking a seat as well, then challenged Hitoshi once more on his purpose for coming here.

"Given you came to me, how about we start with your ideas. As well as if you have made any progress in the Rukongai."

Hitoshi was aware of the eyes prying at them all. The oddity of an unaffiliated noble in the combat division. They wouldn't be able to see eye to eye on that, he was sure of. Nothing these slack jawed monkeys say could be taken seriously. And against my own word?

Anyone else watching, well, that was the calculated part of risk.

Following the woman, the parasol led him into the room, snatching itself shut as he took to sit. Sanzukiko slid across his lap. Settling, he'd tug at imperfections in his clothing as he spoke, attention diverted from Kanae. "What I think is that security is incredibly tight for the time being. It's bad for business, making things...."

Sliding a finger carefully across the fold of his kimono, his eyes would find their way back to the woman with a cold efficacy. "More difficult than appreciated. Largely I've been able to bend it to suit my needs, but that won't last forever. As for the Rukongai, they'll see it as another price hike caused by some Gotei nonsense that shouldn't be affecting them. Good enough, until another move can be taken."

At all times Kanae had to resist the urge to simply go out and slaughter those who stood against her. To hear this man talk about something being "bad for business" was annoying. This new age of working with others or within the confines of society was bothersome, but she knew it had to be how things were done. She couldn't just muscle her way through roadblocks. It pained Kanae to even think about it, but she...needed rats like Hitoshi and Claudia to see her plans come to fruition.

"The enhanced security will end eventually, likely when we stomp out those Hollows in the Living Realm. I am sure you will survive until then." Her tone was as dismissive as her words as Kanae brushed aside the subject of Seireitei security. On the subject of the Rukongai, Kanae decided to mention her recent meeting with that difficult man there "You may face resistance from the Shirazumi-rengokai in the Shōjin District. They are simple thugs, but their leader is disgustingly moral. Cares about helping those rats he calls his people. Tsubine Shirazumi. Arrogant, but weak. No stronger than a Vice Captain." As Kanae spoke of him her words were filled with venom.