Part 11
Somewhere Else.
"I don't care if you've got fifty invitations to karaoke at Thirteenth Division barracks, you're going!"
A young woman's stern and wrathful voice rings through the audience room as she lectures a brooding, dispassionate, and grumblesome man standing awkwardly before her throne.
"Liked it better when…"
"What?" The woman bears down on him with grey eyes alight with an internal flame.
"Oh uh, I was just saying what an honour it will be to carry out the Clan's mission." The man shifts and scuffs his foot on the floor.
Behind the young woman, a second woman with similar dark hair, large, grey eyes, and jaunty features lounges, smoking as she observes the young woman harangue the reluctant lecture recipient. The observer drags the pipe long and deep, then delicately trails the stem through the stream of exhaled smoke, holding it in the hand of a prosthetic arm. Her eyes twinkle as she watches the man squirm as he takes his orders.
The young woman's throne is artfully wrought to resemble a twisted pile of limbs, with literal feet supporting its base, open palms at the hands, ready to support whatever the Lady wishes, and at the shoulder of the chair, a pair of raised fists supports a banner: "Noble Shiba Clan Head".
"Kukaku, can't you just…"
"Ah ah ah ah ah, Kukaku isn't here. Unless you're looking for a thrashing." The older woman grins maniacally, clearly amused and possibly hopeful that the man would be, indeed, looking for a thrashing.
"What's the holdup! Get out there now! Like it or not, the Shiba Clan has ties to Hueco Mundo, and if we don't want those ties scrutinised again, we need to investigate and get ahead of whatever this is. Or have you forgotten why you're breathing free air after that stunt you pulled? Now, get out there and investigate or I'll thrash you myself!" As the Shiba princess threatens the retainer, a masked and gloved soldier at either back corner of the room cautiously places a hand to their sword hilt.
Resigned, the man runs a hand through his long, dark hair, then across his cleanshaven chin. His heavy brows knit together. "Yes, Lady Karin. It is my duty to carry out the will of the Shiba." His words are respectful, but his tone is thinking about the karaoke he will be missing.
"You may go." As the man turns and shuffles out of the audience room, Karin and Kukaku look at each other with matching deep smirks.
"Man, and I thought Kukaku was gonna run me ragged. This nobility thing is more trouble than it's worth. Oh well…I guess it can't be helped." The man's deep voice speaks to no one in particular as he scuffs his feet along the halls of the Shiba Castle.
"Kutsuzawa was right. We should have built a bar in the castle. That way I don't have to worry about getting 'permission' to go to karaoke. But then…I guess I'd still be getting ordered to go trekking through the soul forsaken wilderness of Hueco Mundo, probably tussling with that knucklehead Grimmjow, all to find out that I missed karaoke for the Exequias to already have everything handled. I'll ask an audience with the Queen, give her the Shiba Clan's greetings, offer our services which she'll decline, politely if I'm lucky, and then I'll be home free…huh, maybe in time to heckle that fool Hisagi's guitar playing. Yeah." The thought of bullying his friend's musical talent lifts the man's mood and his step acquires a little pep.
"You always talk to yourself on your way to halfassing your orders?" A cool and teasing woman's voice comes from the shadows of a doorway the man had overlooked. She has the same dark hair and large, grey eyes as the other two Shiba women, with a streak of white at each temple and silver brows.
"You wouldn't be teasing me if you were the one being bossed around and sent to Hueco Mundo."
"As if she would send me before some cadet lackey. But if she did…I would have already finished the mission." The woman speaks boldly and teasingly, her words underscoring a clear difference in the two family members' statuses. But it also belies the informality of a jocular friendship.
"Sure Anzu, how about you tag along then and we get this done twice as fast."
"You just want me to do all the work while you slack off and then take credit in front of Her Highness."
"Wow, you really subscribe to these formalities huh? 'Her Highness' this, 'cadet lackey' that. It's not like they're going to make you a member of the main branch just because you suck up to Kukaku and Karin."
The woman frowns at the man's informality, but lets it slide. "Oh yeah? Well I may not be from the main branch but at least I get to use the Shiba name!" She follows him as he keeps walking after his last remark.
The man stops and gives a demonstratively furtive glance in either direction. "Anzu…I don't care about the Shiba name." He speaks in hushed tones, as though the walls had ears, but then as he relishes the indignation in Anzu's face, the man grins broadly and continues on his way, even more of a pep in his step.
"Oh yeah, Ginjou? Well I'll show you! I can bring honour to the Shiba name better than any ruffian retainer like you!" Anzu lets her cool demeanour slide as she gets heated with the man and shouts after him, he only smugly shrugging.
"Whatever, Miss Shiba. You just see, I'll be laughing at Biker Boy's dumbass playing in no time."
"I don't know what that means!"