Chapter 9: A Failure of Culture
"The kenpachi is a barely controlled beast, and her mongrels are little better. Your division has been created as her foil, to eliminate her mob should she slip off Yamamoto's leash. Discard your honor now, for you will train to fight without it, your only goal the deaths of your foe by any means available."~ Central 46, to the first Captain of Division 3
That Night, Twelve Days until engagement
Che. Seriously, just kill them now and get it over with.
Would you shut the fuck up already?
You'd be doing them a favor, just reap 'em now and don' make 'em suffer.
Forcing himself to ignore the demon within his own head, Hisagi Shuhei watched as his troops attempted, yet again, to go through the cooperative training regimen that Kira had loaned him.
"No dammit! Work together to take down the target!" His voice was hoarse from an entire afternoon of shouting similar instructions. Dammit... this isn't working at all.
The shinigami that he had just berated gave him dirty looks out of the corners of their eyes, which he did his best to ignore. It would have been far less frustrating for him if they actually tried to understand what he was trying to teach them. Instead, most of them viewed the entire effort as a colossal waste of time, and were openly resenting the entire affair. In the morning, that had largely led to a lazy, uncaring approach. As the day had dragged on, many, especially the higher seats, had begun edging towards open insubordination.
"Dammit Azaru watch where you move!" His fifth seat had just stepped directly into the path of an un-ranked warrior, shoving her into a pair of her equally low comrades, knocking all three of them down. "If this was an actual battle you just killed three of our own people!"
The heavy-set man's face turned purple in rage, "This is a fucking waste of time Lieutenant! Why the hell do you have us wasting our training on this shit!?"
Silence fell, punctuated only by a few gasps and groans.
I vote we kill him. Messily.
"Did you just question my orders, fifth seat?" He kept his voice low, feeling his face slip into a deep glare. A hand unconsciously slid down to the hilt of Kazeshini, fingers drubbing against the smooth cloth.
Around the other man, space rapidly cleared as the division members moved away from their superiors. For his part, Azaru seemed slow to realize just how much trouble he had landed himself.
"We ain't the stealth force, and we're sure as hell not like those division three wimps." He growled, flexing the arm holding his wooden training blade, "Why the hell do I need to waste my time with this when I could be training for bankai?"
"Bankai, huh." Shuhei stared at the man for a few more long moments, slowly working out his best course of action. Simply beating some sense into him wasn't a viable option, it would just reinforce what the idiot had been taught his entire life. Talking was just as obviously out, given the apparent density of his brain. Which leaves just one option.
"You three," He turned to the three younger shinigami that Azaru had knocked to the ground, "Get over here, and..." A quick glance around found another knot of three fresh academy graduates trying painfully hard not to be noticed, "You three as well."
While they slowly shuffled over to him, he turned back to the fifth seat. "Since you're so confident, I'm sure you think you can beat these six kids in a sealed fight."
"With respect, sir, it wouldn't be a fair fight." The confident bark that answered didn't surprise him in the least, "Grab a dozen more and it might be close to even."
"Another dozen, huh."
"At least."
"Then prepare yourself while I give them their orders." Turning away from the idiot, who promptly began to boast once more, he looked at the six young faces staring at him in abject horror. "Orders are simple, go kick his ass."
"B-but s-sir!" One of the girls squeaked, her eyes practically the size of saucers, "He's a f-fifth seat a-and-"
"And what?" He faced her directly, "The six of you have actually been trying today, which is more than I can say for most of the rest of the division. Remember your lessons, work together, and take him down."
"S-sir.."
"I said Take. Him. Down!" The last three words came out as a full out bellow that tore at his already sore throat, and a startled silence fell over the training grounds even as the rookies snapped to attention on pure reflex.
"Sir!"
What? No 'embrace your fear' speech?
It's not what they need to hear right now.
Che. And there for a moment I thought you might have moved past that blind asshole's tripe shit…
"You," He stabbed a finger at the young girl who had stuttered out her protests, "I'm putting you in command, you have one minute to form your strategy, and then the fight will begin."
"O-ok... I m-mean, y-yes sir!"
Turning away as they huddled up, he noted that a large circle had already form around them, leaving plenty of space for the coming spar. Ignoring the confused looks many of the more veteran members of the division were giving him, and the still condescending glare from Azaru, he let his legs carry him towards the milling crowd.
By the time he reached his place near the center, the rookies had broken up, forming into a loose formation opposite the officer.
At least they were paying attention during the positioning drills. Rather than forming up directly next to one another, they were spread out into a loose group, carefully spaced so that each could fight freely without having to worry about slicing up their allies next to each other, yet still close enough that it was just a single step for another warrior to move to lend a hand.
As one, all six raised their wooden swords in salute, which their opponent returned with a mocking twirl of his own.
Grinding his teeth at this display, he rose a hand, "Begin in three... two... one... start!"
Just as he could have guessed, the seated officer went straight for the quick win. Sprinting forwards with a harsh shout, his burly form went straight for the girl in the middle of the formation. Timing his blow perfectly as she hastily raised her blade to block, he beat the blade down and moved to follow with a slash that would probably knock her out, if not result in a broken skull.
Or at least, it would have if the two men to either side of her hadn't quickly side-stepped, locking their blades into a cross-block in front of their leader's face to catch the incoming slash.
Grunting loudly in surprise, Azaru took a quick half step back, blade sweeping from side to side to block the clumsy counter-slashes that the two rookies quickly threw at him. For her part, the young woman fell black slightly, her wavering voice calling out orders to the trio behind her.
He rose an eyebrow in surprise at what they were attempting, it was the drill that Azaru had thoughtlessly ruined earlier, and easily the most difficult that they had attempted all day.
"Hidaka, D-Dai, s-step out!"
The two men, both now frantically blocking the lightning-quick attacks that the officer was throwing at them, reacted at once, stepping to the outside and keeping their blades tucked in near their bodies. In the gap they left between them, the two women and single male of the second line dashed forwards, doing their best to attack simultaneously.
Quick blocks prevented the first two slashes from reaching him, but the third blade slipped through his guard and earned a loud grunt of pain as it firmly whacked into his left bicep.
"Left arm disabled!" Shuhei shouted, above the surprised murmuring of the crowd. Azaru cursed loudly, rapidly falling back, awkwardly using his blade with just his right hand.
"Just a matter of time now." The quiet voice came from beside him, and quick glance revealed the rotund form of his third seat and de-facto second in command. "They took him by surprise with that move. He might get one or two, but he can't last forever fighting with just one arm."
He grunted, nodding as he turned back to the fight. Azaru had managed to down one of the women, and even as he watched the man neatly side-stepped an ill-timed thrust and retaliated by slamming the point of his sword into a rookie's throat, sending him instantly to the ground. A quick turn and slash was once more blocked by a pair of blades however, the remaining unranked kids just managing to get back into some semblance of formation.
"In an all-out battle he would have trashed them."
A shoulder rose and fell in a shrug, "We have to start somewhere, and this is the kind of thing Izuru and his people could do in their sleep."
It was the other man's turn to grunt, "Can't say I'm happy about the idea of turning us into a new version of the Third, especially with ol' Ichimaru leavin' 'em." A thick hand rose to forestall him, "But I guess that's what the Guard thought too, and nearly all those poor fools are dead now."
Meanwhile, out in the circle, the final act was playing out. The boastful fifth seat was cursing up a storm, his left knee resting on the ground after a slash had taken it out from under him, and the remaining four rookies were warily encircling him. None of them seemed eager to close to finish it, but it was painfully obvious that he wasn't going to be able to make any effective movements.
"It's over Azaru," he called out loudly enough to silence the crowd once more, "I'm calling it."
"I can still fight!"
A snort escaped him, "You've lost your left leg and left arm. If this was a real fight, you'd have already bled to death. It's over."
The fifth seat rose to his feet, glaring furiously at him. For a moment, he idly wondered if the man would be dumb enough to do something drastic, but instead he merely spat an oath before spinning on his heel and stalking away.
"Training is done for the day, you're all dismissed."
Around him, the division began to head back to the buildings they had commandeered, quiet murmuring at what they had just witnessed filling the air. Though many, maybe even most, still seemed derisive, loudly noting that shunpo and kido hadn't been allowed, in addition to not using real blades. A few though were pausing, glancing over at the six rookies who still seemed stunned at what they had done.
It's a start. It isn't much, but it is a start.
At your current rate, you might have them ready to fight in oh... two decades. Face it, most of these morons are just gonna die.
Did I ask for your opinion?
You never do.
There's a very, very good reason for that.
Che, whatever asshole.
Pushing the reaper within him away once more, he slowly walked through the moving crowd, heading towards the rookies that had just proved his point for him.
"S-sir!" The young woman he had put in charge of them quickly bowed, her fellows following suit.
"What's your name girl?" It was becoming clear that the young girl's speech wasn't simple nerves, she just had a slight stutter.
"R-Rena Goto sir!"
"Enough with the sir crap," He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "You six did good out there, actually putting today's lessons to use. It was good to see."
"Th-thank you s-sir!"
"Tomorrow I want the six of you to stick together for training, you seem to work well as a team." he gave them all the slightest of bows, "Now go get some rest."
The six of them moved away, murmuring to each other excitedly. They barely made it a dozen meters before they were swarmed by the division's other rookies, their voices raised in amazed congratulation. He snorted as they crowd kept moving, shaking his head in bemusement.
Enjoy it while it lasts kids, soon enough it'll be the real thing.
"That was nicely done." A quiet voice murmured almost directly into his ear.
Before he was even aware of it, he was spinning in place, his zanpakotou flying to his hands as his heart spasmsed into frantic motion. There was a burst of motion, and a steel grip seized his arm before twisting his slash into a thrust directly into the ground in front of him.
"That was also nicely done." Captain Soifon nodded slowly in approval, an almost dainty hand releasing his sword, "Excellent reaction time."
"Captain…" He gave her a short bow as he pulled his sword out of the ground, sheathing it as he tried to calm down. Did she really have to do that? "What brings you out here?"
She just used you for practice you moron.
She shrugged slightly, "Captain Ukitake requested that I observe your first day of training."
He frowned, "Why?"
"He wishes to evaluate how well our rank and file respond to the new training regimen, given that we have our first joint-session planned in four days." Her hard eyes flicked over to the retreating backs of his people, "So far, the signs are poor."
A grimace twisted his face, "I got through to some of them."
"Mostly new recruits, mostly non-nobility, those with the most to gain from the training and least to lose." Another shrug, "Those with the least power to begin with, in other words."
He glowered slightly, "They still fought well."
"Then I am sure that they will die well."
She sounds just like you.
Ha! I have way more fun killing people than she does.
"I'll bring them around Captain."
The dark eyes turned back to him, evaluating, then her head inclined slightly in a nod. "I will brief Ukitake on your progress."
"Thank you Captain."
She grunted in an almost masculine fashion, then vanished into a blur.
Four days...looks like I'm not getting any sleep tonight, not if we're going to have any chance of not embarrassing ourselves.
With a sigh, he headed for his office and wondered how the fuck he was going to pull off a miracle.
Stealth Corps Report: Captain Sui-Feng's Eyes Only
Evaluation of Squads 3,5,9 in the wake of the traitor's withdrawal.
Squad 3: Perhaps the least damaged by the loss of its Captain, Squad 3 remains largely populated by pariahs who are looked down upon by the majority of other soul reapers. This has long given them a highly insular sub-culture, which was cultivated further during Ichiarmu's tenure as a Captain due to his own disliked personality. Lieutenant Kira remains psychologically weak in our evaluation, but reports indicate that he is throwing himself into preparing his unit for war to avoid thinking about his Captains' betrayal.
Squad 5: To put it bluntly Captain, this squad is a mess. Lieutenant Hinamori remains hospitalized and it remains our belief that she should be relieved of her rank given her 'opinion's regarding Aizen. The unit's third and fourth seats are incompetent, likely by Aizen's choice, and further are frustrating the fifth seat's efforts to at least manage some form of training. We recommend that squad five be temporarily disbanded entirely, it's members shifted to other squads pending security reviews.
Squad 9: This unit's hero-worshiping of it's Captain would leave it nearly as damaged as squad 5 if not for the fact that Lieutenant Hisagi is far more competent than Lieutenant Hinamori. There does remain a sharp divide however, as nearly a third of the squad is composed of nobility who do not approve of his Rukon background. If possible a new third seat might be considered for the unit, preferably from one of the four noble houses, to assist him in keeping them under control.
Next up is Chapter 10: A Caged Monster
Following up a glimpse at Atlantean combat training with some of the same from the Seireitei. Bit of a glimpse of the problems that the shinigami have given the prejudices between their nobility and 'common' souls, with more on that and issues between their various squads to come. We'll be seeing the Atlantean problems later, but in the next chapter we'll be flipping back to Ichigo and his training (which will be a very short chapter).
Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."
Thanks, Kat