53 of 100: Trickery


Honda Kano wasn't a dull-witted man. Sure, he was rather young to be a Vice-Captain and he had problems garnering the respect of his colleagues and Captain. That didn't mean he was stupid. One might say he had a nose for being nosy. Or, taking offense to the term, "nosy" one might say curious. After all, everyone was curious.

Despite his nature-given curiosity, he wasn't in the habit of sneaking around. At least, not on purpose. As it happened, he was in the rear courtyard of Division Two, which was large and had a grove of large trees that made for good hiding places when one didn't want to be disturbed. It was also close to the ladies bathing hall and his tree had an excellent vantage point of a doorway that afforded him glances of bare skin every time someone went in or out of the place. He wasn't a pervert; he was just a curious man. Or, maybe a curious appreciative man was more appropriate.

Whilst lounging in his tree between peepings he'd been trying to read. It had been a two-fold venture to plop up in the tree. Left up there with little distraction he'd been forced to review his manual. It had belonged to his previous Vice-Captain Ise Nanao and he'd "borrowed" it from the office shelf. He figured as long as he took it back, no harm. Unfortunately for him he'd found the text boring and had come up with the tree plan. So far the results were fifty-fifty.

"It's only a matter of time, really."

Honda blinked himself awake; unaware he'd been drifting off. Quietly, he straightened against the bark, digging it into his spine uncomfortably. The voice raised the hairs on the back of his neck.

"A matter of time, Sir?"

Who was that below? Honda peered to the right, balancing his weight carefully. Just a couple of guys walking past below. He didn't recognize them as any officers he knew and neither were ranked Captains. So what was the root of that quiver running down his spine?

"Just a matter of time, Goto. Don't lag behind."

It was obvious the shorter guy was in charge. His chubby finger was tapping his lip as if he were in deep thought.

"Our numbers have been damaged by the Grass Project. We can't afford all new recruits at a time like this and the Gotei-13 Captains are so damn prickly about their officers."

"I thought you said that none of the Divisions had any worthy officers?"

The tall skinny one must be called Goto then. Who was the short round one? The bossy guy? And just what were they talking about?

"They don't," the man snarled, his lip curling. "But there are a few amateurs that might be worthy of my attention. We'll see, now come along, there are a few more stops we must make today."

Honda watched them clear the trees, the tall one loping behind his superior. He still couldn't pinpoint why he'd gotten such a weird feeling. Deciding he wasn't going back to the office until at least two o'clock when the Captain's mood would be better, he returned to his book with a sigh. Maybe Captain Kyouraku knew who they were.


On the countertop before him, green fluid boiled. It would need to do so for at least another hour. Akon stared at the bottles absently noting the rate of bubbling. It had reached peak temperature. There was nothing to do but wait. This particular experiment had been tried before and there were no noted changes to document for at least an hour.

Turning, he eyed his blackened monitor. He hadn't heard from Ise in quite a long time. Bored fingers flicked on the power button and the screen lit up in luminous blue. While he waited for it to boot to the command screen, he considered. She was probably in her office about now. Maybe he could risk a visit later. When the monitor chirped, he glanced up and typed in her name. The electronic database was maintained hourly by the Division Twelve Registration offices six floors above his head. In moments, her stoic faced stared back at him, the standard file photo, and beside it her most current data.

Ise Nanao.

Division Thirteen.

Standard.

He stared at it a long moment. "Standard" was the term used for shinigami of no rank. Standard? She was rank and file? Since when? Finding the history tab he briefly reviewed and found she wasn't in her office. Hers or anyone else's. Ise Nanao was on "official leave at an unknown location". Following that, he found her resignation. The updates had almost come on top of each other. Scrolling to the bottom he checked the last date. Only a few days previous.

In the bottom corner he absently noted the access count: 156. He glanced at it again.

156?

One hundred and fifty six profile views? It wasn't uncommon for students at the academy to do reports or research on the Gotei-13 Captains and Vice-Captains but those page views usually topped out at maybe twenty per day. The page counts were reset every Monday and Thursday. That meant the count had been reset two day ago which put her well above the expected numbers. Who was looking her up?

Typing quickly, he attempted to open the access log. A list of numbers popped up. Computer terminals in Soul Society had unique access codes. It wasn't possible to access any information in the Division Twelve Database without a personal access code; the academy students had a school code that was heavily restricted.

Movement behind Akon drew his attention away from the list and he found his Captain had wandered in and was slouching over looking into the boiling beaker.

"Looks adequate," Captain Kurotsuchi murmured as he wandered around the table inspecting it.

Akon turned fully and waited the other man straightened.

"Make sure when you add the specimens this time they are fully healthy. Those last ones you used were sickly. It contaminates the work to use sick things."

"Yes, Captain."

Golden eyes flickered up to the screen behind Akon's head and for a long moment there was silence. "You may wish to reconsider your interest in that female. I have heard her file was pulled from the Hall of Records just yesterday."

Turning on his heel, the Captain left and moments later Akon heard him yelling at someone not too far down the nearby hall. His feeling of unease increased. Files were pulled from the Hall of Records prior to disciplinary action. Something was up.

Summoning a hell butterfly, he relayed a quick message and sent it off to find the only person who might have a chance of unraveling the mystery before it was too late.

Captain Kyouraku Shunsui.