Kenji Takahashi stood at approximately 176 centimeters, was of medium build, and had a rough-and-tumble presence not uncommon of commanders originating from deep within Rukongai. His commoner's garb only enhanced his many rough edges, Byakuya Kuchiki noted silently to himself as the two exchanged salutations. The pair looked comical, really -- Kenji in his tattered and worn kimono and Byakuya neatly fitted in his captain's attire.
"After our lengthy correspondence we finally meet," Kenji said pleasantly enough with a raspy voice.
"Indeed," Byakuya's response was clipped and pointed.
He looked Byakuya over and smiled knowingly; whereas Kenji tried to appear incognito, Byakuya proudly displayed his status. The commander wasn't sure which modus operandi was better…
'So the rumors are true,' Kenji couldn't help but muse.
The two continued down the urban streets of the 36th District. Dusk was falling and with it came the spidery fingers of darkness. If possible the scenery became even more baleful in shade. Eyeing his companion with an imperceptible sidelong gaze, Kenji could see disgust writing its way across Byakuya's face.
"Is this your first time this far out of Seireitei?" Kenji attempted to temper the question by trying to sound genuinely interested.
"No." The reply was stern and cold.
Kenji managed to stifle the grin that was beginning to thin his lips. He couldn't tell if Byakuya was being forthcoming or merely stubborn. He chose to believe the latter. "Well, we might as well start over to the restaurant."
Byakuya glanced over at Kenji out of the corner of his eye. "How sound is your intelligence regarding the Serenity House?"
"Hopefully pretty reliable; otherwise, it's more leg work." He paused to glance Byakuya over before placing a palm against his neck; leg work would be impossible with a captain in tow.
"Hey, I have a question," he said, clearing his raspy voice. After receiving an obliging gaze from the captain, he continued. "Why did you come all the way out here personally?" Kenji already had a wager on the matter, but curiosity proved too much.
"Orders."
A grin inched across his lips. Kenji was sure that a man like Byakuya wasn't ordered to do much that he didn't already have a mind to do.
The rest of the way to the Serenity House was taken in silence – a mutual silence. Once there, Byakuya turned his discerning gaze to the establishment. It was quaint, rustic, and perhaps the most tasteful piece of architecture he had encountered in the area.
As the two entered the edifice, they observed a small party of local merchants leaving before proceeding further. Both Kenji and Byakuya removed their footwear and gave it to a small girl who had been given the task of storing the patron's shoes.
The instant the hostess working the entrance saw the two through the string of patrons, recognition lit her eyes. With a bright smile the young girl approached the two. "You must be the Chan party of two," she said in a voice bubbling with delight.
Byakuya shot a rueful glance over at Kenji. The meaning of the stare, however, was not lost on the commander. Kenji could read Byakuya's displeasure at the mendacity regarding their identities loud and clear.
Turning his attention from Byakuya to the hostess, Kenji took a few steps forward before addressing her. "Why, yes, we are, ma'am," he responded, pouring on the charm. The girl's attention, however, was fixed on Byakuya, who couldn't have appeared more disinterested if he had tried.
"Please, follow me," she said, cheerfully leading the two to a small indoor rock garden lit by large hanging lanterns. The garden was very pleasant, and, more importantly, very private. "If you would wait here Hisana will be joining you shortly." The hostess quickly scuttled back through the door out of which they had just come.
"What type of establishment is this?" Byakuya asked, realizing that even in the seemingly innocuous surroundings, conversation needed to be guarded.
"A place where men can eat and do business. We'll be taken to a private room by one of the House's hostesses. She'll serve us and converse with us for as long as we desire her company."
"Have you ever been here before?"
"Several times – all under the same pseudonym. It is one of the few places in this crowded city that one can talk in earnest, and the girls aren't half bad either," he added with a wolfish smile.
Just as soon as Kenji had finished, Byakuya's attention drew to something behind his companion. Kenji instinctively turned to see a hostess standing unobtrusively at his back.
"Oh," he began, apologetically, "I was just being – saying – telling," he stammered, clearly taken off guard.
"My name is Hisana, and I will be your hostess for tonight," she stated, glancing past the stammering Kenji and over at Byakuya who bowed his head in acknowledgment.
"I am Rei Chan," Kenji, or rather "Rei," said, placing a hand to his chest before bowing. "And this is – "
"Byakuya," Byakuya interrupted before Kenji had the chance to dub him some ridiculous name.
Hisana smiled and bowed respectfully. "If you will follow me." Her voice was soft and tranquil, and her demeanor subdued. Turning on her heels, she led the pair to the other side of the garden where she gently lifted some overgrown ivy out of her way to reveal a hidden door. With graceful movements, she slid open the door before pausing shortly outside the room in order to allow her guests to enter before her.
Byakuya entered first followed by Kenji. The room was subtly decorated in neutral colors. On the tatami floor sat a long mahogany table surrounded by black mats. On the table were two steaming bowls of prepared soup along with cups and a decanter of sake.
Byakuya was the first to be seated but was quickly joined by Kenji. Once Hisana thought the guests were suitably comfortable, she moved to the table and took the seiza position on one of the mats. Leaning forward slightly, she lifted the decanter and poured the sake into the cups.
As she was preparing their drinks, Byakuya watched her intently. She was ordinary looking, standing at about 152 centimeters, and slightly built. Her skin was pale, devoid of the healthy glow that all the young women in Seireitei seemed to possess. Her hair was pulled up into an ornate chignon and clasped into place by a few well fashioned pins; however, a few unruly strands had managed to escape from the pins and fell in her face.
When Hisana motioned to serve the drinks, she began with Byakuya instinctively despite the fact that the party was listed under Kenji's pseudonym. As she handed him the drink, their eyes briefly met before she respectfully averted her gaze. Byakuya stared at her for a moment, captivated. There was something about her eyes -- they were doleful, giving her the appearance of utter detachment as if her thoughts were on more important matters.
When serving Kenji his sake, Hisana took great pains to avoid eye-contact by lowering her head. Kenji took his cup, surprised that she had seemingly treated him with more respect than she had given his companion. Byakuya had noted this as well and sat mildly intrigued by her actions before gazing into his cup of sake.
"I will leave you to your privacy until you have made your selection," she began, gesturing to the menus handwritten in calligraphy.
"No," Kenji said softly, "stay and have a drink with us. We are both on official business and are thus strangers in a strange land. Perhaps you could enlighten us?"
Hisana drew in a deep breath, feeling her body run both hot and cold simultaneously. "As you wish," she said, trying to feign coquettishness but falling flat in the attempt. Instead she came off sounding distant and subservient. "What would you like to speak of? The weather? Cultural events?" Hisana gently opened a small drawer in the table and removed a spare cup. Setting it neatly on the table, she filled it with a small amount of sake.
"What do you know of the Band of Wolves?" Byakuya asked pointedly.
Kenji cringed in response to his companion's candid question.
"Band of Wolves?" she echoed. Her brows furrowed in thought. The name did seem familiar. "Oh, yes," she said, a spark of recognition lighting her eyes. "The group that is causing so much trouble in some parts of Rukongai? I'm afraid that I don't know much about the matter. They seem to be dissidents. If I stand corrected, were they not once members of the Academy?" Hisana's voice remained calm and even as she spoke; she sounded almost disinterested in what she was saying.
"You're right. That's the group. Isn't it strange?" Kenji stated, leaning forward in his seat.
"What is so strange about it?" she asked, her gaze occasionally drifting between the two men. "The Band obviously finds something wrong with the current establishment and has inspired like-minded individuals to seek change."
Byakuya's reaction was unmistakable, and Hisana just barely caught it out of the corner of her eye. His dark eyes narrowed and his lips tightened into a straight line. A brief, imperceptible smile lengthened her lips at his response.
"Or perhaps they are just rogues who prey off the poor and downtrodden for their own personal gain?" Byakuya offered, trying to mask his displeasure with reason.
"Perhaps," she said, nervously clutching the edge of her mat, "and perhaps the band has a point."
"And what might that point be?" Byakuya questioned. His deep velvety voice remained both calm and collected.
"How's the weather here?" Kenji interrupted brashly in an attempt at digression.
His effort was quickly waved off by Byakuya. "No, let her speak."
"Perhaps they perceive that the current system is the cause of much heartache and grief," she replied, retaining an expression of impassivity as she spoke the words.
"Lives should be lost for mere idealism?"
She managed a soft lugubrious smile at his words. "I did not realize the skirmishes had become so menacing," she conceded the point politely, not wanting to anger her guest already more than she had.
Meanwhile, Kenji, having foreseen this conversation's rapid deterioration, had already begun on his soup and was now eyeing the menu stationed to the left of the bowl. "The oyakodon seems like a good choice," he said feeling the heavy tension in the air begin to melt.
"Very good," Hisana said before turning her attention to Byakuya, "Have you made your selection, Mr. Byakuya?" The name felt strange on her tongue – perhaps this was because she was almost certain it was not his surname.
Byakuya hesitated despite having already familiarized himself with the menu. He was not famished in the slightest, but realized that it would be gauche not to order. "The basashi," he replied.
Hisana lowered her head subserviently before drawing to her feet. Once standing, she bowed politely before turning on her heels and delicately letting herself out. Once outside, she pressed her right hand fast against her lips to keep in the sob climbing up the back of her throat. She was certain that she had failed her benefactor, Mr. Hideyoshi, and that because of her inability to keep herself in check not only had she debased herself but the Serenity House as well.
Taking a few wobbly steps forward, Hisana realized that her fingers were still firmly wrapped around her cup of sake. Placing the rim of the cup against her lips, she quickly downed the rice wine in one gulp. Feeling mildly rejuvenated by the drink, she continued down the path into the rock garden, hoping to stave off the tears that burned to be released.
---
"What do you think?" Kenji asked, leaning back on the mat.
"This is a very delicate matter," Byakuya answered stoically. In the back of his mind he realized that if the shinigami took one misstep, it could result in a nasty backlash. The people in the distant districts of Rukongai seemed to be growing more and more restless all because of four very angry upstarts.
"How in the world did those four manage to flee the Academy?" Kenji asked in disbelief.
It was a good question. No one was quite sure how the four students had managed to escape. Perhaps they had assistance from the inside? There was always that possibility, Byakuya thought to himself. But such musings were nothing more than mere speculation. All that was known was four students went missing, all of whom had come from the slums of Rukongai before entering the Academy. One of the students that went missing had been at the top of his class and had already been assigned to a division... The other three had been put on probation for some undocumented acts, but their probation was just about up. Three weeks after the four had gone AWOL a small riot began in West Rukongai. It wasn't until the "Band of Wolves" and their lackeys attacked a small outpost which served as a training facility for shinigami that they obtained any evidence tying the missing students to the surge in political dissidence. But sure enough, the descriptions reported from one of the survivors of the outpost incident matched those of Dow, Kido, Joy, and Loki. If disappearing was what they desired, then Rukongai provided optimal conditions for getting lost in the shuffle; the slums of Rukongai also provided the optimal conditions for creating a cult…
"Are you sure there is a Band of Wolves operant working here?" Byakuya asked sternly. It was unspoken, but Kenji picked up on the, "my time is valuable, and I would like to find these kids ASAP," vibe coming from Byakuya loud and clear.
"I have some pretty reliable intelligence telling me so. If we can find out which girl it is, perhaps we can get her to talk and then we can bring these kids to justice."
"This cannot be the only lead thus far?"
"Yep. We've tried using devices to detect a surge in spirit power within range, but to no avail. Either one of those kids has fashioned something to mess with our device, or they're never within range of the radar. And the people are reluctant to say anything in the districts we've visited. Even citizens with a clean record don't want to talk to us in the slums; the rift is just that deep now. That's why we've taken to dressing incognito and are trying to infiltrate the Band that way. Perhaps your presence here will prompt the kids in their bravado to make their whereabouts known…"
"One can only hope," Byakuya stated impassively; he for sure did not wish to be trapped indefinitely in Rukongai…
A/N:
Thanks to everyone who has read thus far!