Chapter 9: The Second Meeting with Captain-Commander Yamato
The second time Todd met Commander Yamato, he didn't have the grandfatherly smile he had before. No one could see that of course, but they could sense it. His brows were furrowed too, relenting his disappointment. The nine Captains were standing around Todd. A rows four on his left, and 5 on his right side, with the Commander standing in front of him. Behind him sat Shuhei and another lieutenant he had been introduced to. A grave looking boy named Kira. He hardly looked old enough to be in his position. And the other was person next to them was Mira and then the nameless man from before, who no longer had a dopey smile. All these people around him were pretty intimidating too. It was almost too much for him to breathe. It was like before when he could breathe, but it felt like he couldn't. All the reiatsu in the room was suffocating, even though they were all holding back. Among the most interesting people in the room was the boy, even younger than Kira named Hitsugaya, the giant dog-faced man named Komamaru, and then the laid back Captain in a pink robe. He couldn't remember his name. Then there was a severe young woman who glared at him the entire time named Soi Fon. Also a silver haired captain who kept coughing. There was this fox of a woman directly to his left named Unohana. She had even bigger breasts that Mira! There was also a strangely painted man with a blue mane, and Todd didn't know if it was real or not. Then there was this man who looked so bored with the proceedings he might just drift off. His name was Byakuya and Todd noted he walked strangely into the place. And the remaining captain was another giant with an eye patch named Kenpachi. He looked bored too, but also dangerous. He had heard there were 13 squads but he only counted 10 captains and two stand-ins.
If he was ever allowed to leave, he would ask Mira or someone about this. The commander spoke loudly, even though the room wasn't that big. It echoed around him and he felt himself cringe beneath the voice. "State your name."
"Todd Mack-eh-naw" he said, slowly pronouncing the syllables.
"And why have you come here?"
Todd hesitate and looked around until the old man banged his cane on the floor. He must have thought it was a gavel too. Todd kept his eyes on the Commander. "I-I-I" he kept stuttering, "I was brought here by three shinigami." The commander didn't respond. "Mira, Shuhei and a man I haven't heard the name of." Still no response. After a minute, "I'm a paperboy. Back on earth, I mean, and this um, hollow as you guys call them attacked one of the clients and I found this sword and I guess got the powers from it. That's all I know," then he quickly said, "Sir."
"We have looked into your past and your words are true, but, how could some one from Earth, a living being, possess shinigami abilities?" It didn't get an answer from anyone. "Do you have any association with Aizen?" It hung in the air heavily, but Todd was clueless. No one spoke, but he knew they all wanted to murmur something to their neighbor.
"Um, sir, I don't know an Aizen." Todd was having trouble speaking loud enough and was afraid he'd be asked to repeat himself. Yamato only nodded. "Who is he?" His curiosity got the better of him, and the earlier urge to whisper came back to his jury.
"Do not concern yourself with him."His voice intensely boomed through the room. "We have only questions for you and you have given us no answer. I will consider what we know and act upon it in time. Until then, you are not charged with any crime other than the release of your Zanpaktou during a state of peace. You are new here and will not receive the usual punishment, but you will be assigned an escort. Until we render our judgement of you, you will be in his custody. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, yes, sir, I guess." Then a strange thought came to mind and he blurted it out. "Sir, my neighbor, the one killed by the hollow. Is it possible she was one of you?" He knew it wasn't the husband seeing as only she ever appeared in his dreams. And Kikorokokou had been adamant that Todd was not as pretty as his last visitor.
"We will check, but all missing-shinigami are being closely monitored. There is no reason to think that." His confidence ended the discussion and Todd kept his head down. "Now, my squad's 3rd seat will escort you out. Mario." He shouted it, but it wasn't much louder than his regular voice. A man with a shaved head entered the hall. As he got closer, Todd realized how muscular this guy was. His robes had no sleeves and Todd saw the muscles bulge as the large veiny hand tugged at his robe. Todd only came up to this guys chin. He acted like every cop Todd knew. All business.
They left and he caught Mira's glance as he left the room. After the doors closed, he swore he heard chatter erupt from within. The doors didn't open back up again like Todd hoped. No Mira bouncing out calling him an idiot. He already missed her, even though he knew her for a few days. She was a much better guard too. She at least talked to him. This guy, Mario, didn't say anything to him and kept tugging on his sleeve. Todd thought his might get ripped off.
"Hey, hey hey, stop!" Todd ripped the cloth from the grip. "I can't keep up with you like this."
"Tough shit, pip." Pip? His voice was pretty unnerving too. There was no way Todd could run away even if he wanted to. He'd have to plow through this brick wall if he tried. "I'll kill you myself if you don't keep up."
"What the hell's your problem?" Todd kept his distance. A good five feet. Mario started walking towards him and Todd backed up at about the same pace.
"You! I got a great workout until you blow in here and we're all on alert for what? Some shit playing dress-up. They should just kill you and be done with it. We've got enough problems, kay." He wasn't kidding either. He'd rather kill Todd than have his workout interrupted any longer.
Playing the peacemaker, Todd said, "okay, okay, I'm sorry, but I don't know what I've done. It wasn't intentional. Maybe I can help you. Help you train, you know. I mean, I can release—"
Mario ran up and Todd didn't back down. "Don't say another word, pip. You can watch and you'll thank me for it. Don't go getting any ideas in your head about helping 'cuz then I really will kill you and be in big trouble for it."
Todd was done running from this guy, and he even leaned in closer. "I bet you couldn't. Hell I could probably take on the whole lot of—"
"You wanna try, pip?" They were face to face.
"It's Todd." Todd backed down by looking away. He couldn't keep the stare down going. He really wanted to laugh at this guy, but knew he shouldn't.
"Let's go." Mario pulled him to a wooded area that had to be a few miles away. About a mile in, Todd felt so rebellious, he just stopped walking and let Mario drag him. Mario didn't notice. Pointing to a log, he said, "Sit there, keep quiet, and watch. You can be grateful too." Todd watched alright. He watched Mario do push ups and sit ups then hand stands then hand-stand push ups. Then he got out his sword which was shorter than Todd's by half a foot, and started swinging it around. He was pretty fast too at swinging it. Then he started hacking at the trees. With a single swipe he sliced it down, then caught the hefty conifer and hauled it back to where Todd was sitting. That was probably how Todd even had a seat. But then he threw it up in the air and as it came hurtling down towards him, because the guy really launched it high in the air, it looked like a tree was falling, the way it stood upright. Todd thought about jumping in to push him out of the way, but as it hit with a loud thud, Todd shied away and couldn't look.
Oh god, he's dead, I know it. He thought until he dared to look and into there was Mario with his sword pointing straight up in the air while two halves of the tree lay on his sides. "Whoa, that was—"
"Yeah, pretty great huh, pip?"
"God, I hate you."
