Chapter 8, Decision
Nearly 3 months since the arrival
Tanya had not expected to see the Soul Reapers again on her journey to Central. She had assumed that the Soul Reapers would be too busy cleaning up the mess with the politicians of Fujiwara to care about her. But as she approached her favorite diner to get a cup of coffee for the road, she saw Rangiku had been waiting at the diner for her.
"Miss Rangiku," Tanya said, taking a seat across from the reaper, signaling one of the waitresses to bring her coffee.
"Hey Tanya, I see you're feeling better," Rangiku said, sitting there with her own cup.
"As good as someone can be when they know that monsters are real and want to eat you in particular," she mused looking at the wrecked sleeve of her coat.
"Yeah, I figured that would be something you would be worried about, but I'm here to solve that. Rukia is going to stay a few days to make sure we got all the hollows. Which means I'm free to help you get back to Central," Rangiku proclaimed proudly.
Tanya nodded, she was in no place to refuse. She also had a slight suspicion in the back of her mind that there was some sort of recruitment dibs going on here. It would make some sense if the divisions were not as hierarchical as an actual military as she had come to believe. In which case Lieutenants and Captains could see that prospective recruits found their way into their division.
Whatever the case, might as well make the best of the situation she's in. If Rangiku wanted her to join her division. Perhaps Tanya could take advantage and learn something she could utilize to protect herself or better yet, keep herself off of the front lines.
As the waitress brought over her coffee Tanya decided to begin gathering information and networking. "So Miss Rangiku, those beasts or the Hollows I believed you called them, what are they?"
Rangiku looked up from her own cup and thought for a moment, then shrugged before saying "They're Souls who were not helped to pass on by Soul Reapers. They stayed too long in the world of the living after their death for one reason or another and then became monsters that hunt the living and the dead."
Tanya processed this information not liking the implication, that the soul could just get lost on the way to the afterlife and become a monster. The efficiency she thought this system had over Being X's seemed to be non-existent when you took that into account. Then she asked, "So if they hunt the living and the dead, in the world of the living, how do they get here?"
"Hollows have the ability to travel between the worlds, they may be born in the world of the living, but they will settle in Hueco Mundo. A realm in-between Soul Society and the world of the living. They often travel to the land of the dead or the living to hunt." Rangiku said before sipping her drink.
Taking a sip of her own, she thought of her next question carefully. There were other worlds to take into account now, and enemies to consider. However, if the denizens of Hueco Mundo were all as bestial as the ones she had seen so far they could be crossed off as a military threat that could draw her on to another warzone.
"So there are three worlds?" she said, fishing to find out more.
"Pretty much, some science geeks in the 12th division will argue that there are more worlds but those worlds are no real concern to a Soul Reaper beyond maybe Hell," Rangiku said.
"... Hell exists?" Tanya asked, taken aback by this revelation.
"Yep, though I don't think anyone knows what goes on in it, all I know is some of the nastier Hollows I have seen were also nasty humans and when they were slain their souls were pulled into Hell," she said matter of factly.
"Then when I killed that Hollow yesterday, I didn't kill the Soul?" Tanya asked, attempting to confirm her new understanding of how death worked here.
"Nope, they'll pop up somewhere in soul society someday, probably have no memories of time as Hollow though. At least if anyone I purified had memories they never sought me out to thank me," the Lieutenant said before finishing her drink.
Tanya nodded, whilst it wouldn't change her actions it was heartening to know that she was doing everyone, including the monster, good by killing them.
"So a question of my own Tanya," Rangiku asked looking at her. "Rukia said you seemed a bit battle crazed when you fought the Hollow?"
Tanya contemplated a moment to carefully articulate her answer as it would seem she had given the impression that she had no control in a fight. This was a reputation Tanya would prefer not to garner since it could be an obstacle to finding a quiet job. "Oh, that. That was what I'm led to believe you would call a Kido which allows me to get back up after taking a beating, it has some side effects that can be misconstrued as battle craze however I assure you that I was in full control,"
"Yeah, that was another thing that bugged Rukia. How do you know Kido like that?" Rangiku asked.
"Germany had many secret societies within its military. I was brought into a group that was experimenting with spellcraft for battlefield uses. We were not successful in the long run and most of my fellow society members were wiped out during the war, as they were prone to taking unnecessary risks." A lie, but it was one Tanya had been working on for a while. She hoped it would explain any more members of her battalion if they showed up.
"Huh, well in the long run that spellcraft knowledge will serve you well if it's comparable to Kido." Rangiku said, playing with her cup, before noting. "So I see your Zanpakutō finished its attunement. Never seen one take on the look of a European sword without being in its released state before."
"Released state?" Tanya asked, wondering what Soul Reaper was talking about.
"Zanpakutō have release states that grant their users special abilities and change their general shape," the soul reaper explained.
"Interesting, how do you release a Zanpakutō?" Tanya asked, wanting to get full control of the weapon as soon as possible.
"Well, that's up to you, or well, the bit of your soul now attached to the blade," Rangiku said.
"A bit of my soul is attached to the blade?" Tanya asked, trying to puzzle out how that one worked, was she not her soul, how could part of her soul now be part of the blade? It didn't make much sense to her. Was it some form of soul-reaper mysticism?
"Yes, your Zanpakutō has a part of your soul, or you could say IS part of your soul now and that part of the soul will create what is called a Sword Spirit. And it's this Sword Spirit you're going to have to deal with to release it," Rangiku explained as if a sword attaching itself to your soul was a normal occurrence.
"Oh, that should not be too hard then." Tanya said out loud thinking that whatever this sword Spirit would be, it would be as reasonable and logical as her at the bare minimum.
Rangiku chuckled and said, "Cutie it's never easy. I've had my sword for a good long time, do not ask precisely how long thank you very much, and I've only achieved the first release. Don't take your spirit very lightly even the most agreeable of them will make you work for power."
Tanya nodded, taking Rangiku's advice and greater experience into consideration. "I guess if it's a part of my Soul that would explain why it looks very European, I had a ceremonial sword very similar to how this Zanpakutō turned out in design."
"The sword must have had some sort of a special place in your heart then, or a part of you felt that it meant something," Rangiku suggested.
"Not sure about that. It was just a tool really, besides being a gift from the Kaiser," Tanya said absent-mindedly thinking about what the sword's choice in design could mean, before asking, "Anyways, I assume they will teach me the basics of the release at the academy you mentioned a few days ago?"
"Yep! They will teach you the basics of Soul Reaper combat and how to release your weapon, but don't think it'll be easy getting into the academy. I might be able to drop you a recommendation but you'll have to succeed on your own," Rangiku added.
"I would not have it any other way personally." Tanya replied as she interpreted the signal there, Favoritism was allowed in the academy but frowned on, she needed to raise her value as a future employee in order to get proper respect when she got out. She was about to ask another question when the Lieutenant beat her to it, by asking one of her own.
"So Lieutenant Colonel, how did you manage to attain that rank while you're so young.?"
"I was in logistics but I had a good head for strategy and tactics. I wrote several papers that my superior officers would take and rewrite taking the credit for themselves while giving me a promotion to keep me quiet. Sooner or later you outrun your contemporaries and I ended up in command of a battalion or three. If I didn't have the noble Von in my name I probably wouldn't have been able to accomplish that." Another series of lies. Tanya would rather not have to deceive Rangiku's trust this way, but explaining multiverse theory would be too much of a headache this early in a working relationship.
There was a big difference between interconnected worlds with an apparently interconnected magical system and a completely different human world with an equally different magical system that was on its own. Best to avoid the topic until she's firmly established herself among the locals as a very logical and reasonable person, so she won't be misconstrued as crazy.
"How long is the academy's curriculum?" She followed up, attempting to gather more information.
"Depends on the student: if you're good you'll be done in a year. If you're unlucky it'll be six years or longer," Rangiku responded.
Putting her coffee cup down Tanya nodded. "Well I'll try and make sure I'll do my best. I would rather not waste a few years in remedial lessons."
"That would be good to avoid, I personally would rather have you free to celebrate your graduation than being stuck reading Soul Society History," Rangiku said with a chuckle.
Tanya was growing slightly suspicious of what kind of worker her new colleague was but kept it to herself, for now, instead she asked, "That reminds me, is there anything I should know about the 10th division?"
"Hmm? Oh, not much, there's nothing really special about our division. We work hard and do our job moving the dead along to the afterlife. Captain Isshin Shiba is kinda famous for being from one of the major noble houses and being a bit of a perv. But besides that one downside, he's a good man… Needs to learn to do his own paperwork though." Rangiku mused.
10th Division was off to a rocky start on Tanya's list to join, it sounded like a perfectly fine division, but it was combat-focused by sounds of it, and that description of Captain Isshin Shiba did not help. An employer who did not keep up on their own paperwork would be a chore to work for. Not to mention she would run the risk of taking the blame for their failures, a noble had privileges to pass the buck, and she did not want to be the one they passed it to.
Seeming to sense Tanya's apprehension Rangiku said "Don't worry about the Captain. He can be a handful, but he does what is right."
"I'll keep that in mind then." Moving along, Tanya asked, "are all divisions combat-focused?"
Rangiku hmmed, then said, "Not all, let me see, well, off the top of my head there is the 2ed division, they do a lot of intel-gathering operations and less than savory operations."
Tanya had a distinct feeling that it may be a form of the secret police from the way Rangiku described them and thought it would be better to avoid them on principle.
"The 4th division is more about healing than fighting. They get some flak from 11th because they prioritize healing but without them, those meatheads would be dead two times over, I'm sure of that," she said with a bemused smile.
"Rather silly to give trouble to your medical corps, just asking for them to go light on the morphine when you need it" Tanya muttered out loud, while internally taking stock of the 4th. She rather liked the sound of them, if the 4th were keeping the wounded alive, they would be in back lines, a perfectly safe job for her.
"The 9th division is in charge of protecting Seireitei, the capital of the Soul Society. As such they don't get out much, but they have taken that free time they have to take over dealing with all reports generated from the other division. They also maintain the arts and culture of the Seireitei. As a result of that, they help keep printing presses funded so they produce the local paper." she continued.
"Hmm, they control papers, that's... interesting." To Tanya it sounded like the 9th was a mix of a propaganda department and logistics corps, not a bad option since she doubted anyone was openly attacking the Seireitei.
"And finally there is the 12th which works on research and development… I would stay away from that one if I were you, their commander can be unpleasant at the best of times." The look she had while thinking about 12th spoke a thousand words to Tanya.
"Ah, I believe me, I know what you mean," she said, assuming that that division must be run by their version of doctor Adelheid von Schugel, then a chill ran down her back as she realized if Lergen was here, then there was a chance of him being here as well. If he was, who was to say he was not in the 12th? She had no idea how long he could have been in this world or what he could have gotten up to. Hell who's to say he didn't run the 12th, a dark and terrible thought.
"Besides those divisions, most of them are like the 10th, they go out and guide souls or takedown hollows. Well besides the 1st and 11th, but those are special cases," Rangiku said.
"Oh, what's so special about those divisions?" Tanya asked, ready to evaluate them.
"Well 11th are a rowdy bunch and like to fight, some of the best sword fighters in the Gotei 13 come from them, their commander loves combat, so he looks for opportunities to fight the biggest and most powerful of Hollows, either himself or through his men," Rangiku said.
"Ah" Tanya would have to avoid placement in the 11th if she could. She rather not lose her life because their commander decided to charge his command into Hueco Mundo looking for a good fight.
"1st is under command of Captain-General Yamamoto and serves as his staff. They're the highest trained force in Soul Society. In an emergency, they are already on the move before some divisions have been alerted to what is going on."
"A quick reaction force mixed with general staff… that sounds efficient," and oddly familiar. In her last life, she thought getting in good with the general staff would prevent her from getting on the field battle, but that did not happen. At least the 1st was more honest about what they were up to but she learned her lesson, general staff was a dangerous gamble, one that she would not be taking if she could help it.
"It's a system that has been around for about 1000 years by now, and the Captain-General is one of the original architects of the system, he had a good long time to work on it," Rangiku said, seeming not to care how insane her statement was.
"I'm sorry, did you just say the Captain-General is 1000 years old?" Tanya asked, having to up her life span again.
"Oh no, the system is 1000 years old, I heard the captain-general about twice that." Tanya put down her coffee and took a moment to massage the bridges of her nose. She now had to figure out what to do with her life for possibly 2000 years. She was just going to give up on long-term planning for while, she would just drive herself mad trying to figure that out.
"You okay Tanya," Rangiku asked.
"Yes yes just fine, just coming to terms with my apparently near immortality" she responded offhandedly.
"Well I would not worry about that too much, you get used to it, not to mention the long life also comes with slower aging, so you get to enjoy your life longer." She said stretching her back arms proactively. Tanya was not sure if she did that on purpose but it threw her off her line of thought, making her blurt out the first question that came to mind.
"Slower aging?" she said taking a sip of her coffee
"Oh you probably don't need to worry about it too much yourself, you'll probably bloom into a prosperous teenager in a decade or so. And since you'll be eating well while in service to the Gotei 13 you'll fill out and have all the reaper boys after you by then as well." Rangiku said teasingly.
Tanya did not spit out her coffee; it was too expensive to let her shock at the sudden turn in conversation ruin it. She finished it, slowly, placing it down and breathed out centering herself before responding. "Well, while it's good to know my youthful malnutrition can be reversed to some extent here, I am not particularly one for mixing work with relationships."
"Ah don't be a wet blanket, you're young, there's nothing wrong with finding a good man," Rangiku said with a teasing smile.
"I am not one for romantic relationships in general and I'm not really in a rush to find a good man as you put it," Tanya had yet to deal with the gender situation and she was going to continue putting that off as long as possible. She began to reach for her drink again, hoping that would be the end of it.
Rangiku watched her intently, seeming to think about something, then said "So what about a good woman?"
Tanya missed the handle of her coffee cup causing it to spin on the table a bit. "Miss Rangiku."
"Ha! If that's not a tell, I'll start wearing conservative outfits. So what's the story then? I've been telling you all about Gotei 13. You gotta tell me something juicy in return," Rangiku said with a teasing grin.
"There is no story, you're imagining things," Tanya said straight-faced.
"I am not, now spill the beans. Or I won't help you cut months off your trip to Central" she said crossing her arms under her chest.
"Wait, you know how to cut off months from the trip?" Tanya said, sitting forward.
"I'm not hearing anything juicy~" Was the only response Tanya got.
Grumbling internally Tanya opened up "I once thought about having a happy married life with a female member of my battalion that I had known for years, it was nothing too serious, a passing thought while I sat in a foxhole waiting for the bombs and shells to stop. That's all there was to it. I never made any moves to act on that, more importantly as her commanding officer, it would be improper to do so." She left out that that thought came up during a rather heated argument with Being X, and that she envisioned herself as her first life in that relationship.
Rangiku looked at her for a moment then finally said, "Huh… I was expecting something less wholesome, but it's cute that the first place your mind went was marriage. Any kids in that foxhole dream?"
"Just the one, now miss Rangiku, this faster way to Central you mentioned?" Tayna pressed.
"Oh yeah, in the 40s there's a stagecoach system that we can hop on. It'll take us all the way to Central. Reapers and potential recruits get a discount on the trip. The owner knows it is bad for business to have kids and new arrivals with high spiritual pressure outside of Central. Too much risk of attacks from Hollows so he helps get them to the capital where it's safe."
"That'll make the journey much quicker and I won't have to walk the rest of the way" Tanya stood up putting on the remnants of her coat and hat. The 40s was at least half a month's journey away then. With this info, Tanya had no more reason to stay in the town, so she was ready to go.
Matsumoto Rangiku thought Tanya was a very good liar. It was obvious that the girl was cleaning up her story in some way. Why exactly was she doing that she officially had no idea, unofficially though… She suspected the girl was dealing with a lot of trauma from whatever war she was part of.
So she was letting her have her lie, though she doubted Germany had a secret society of Kido users and she doubted Tanya attained her rank by just knowing the right people. From Rukia's description, she fought too well for that to be the truth. Whatever the truth was, the girl was not willing to raise the gates on her mental walls yet.
She was inclined to let her keep her secrets for now. Oh sure she was interested in what the girl's story truly was and a bit worried if it was something that could be a danger to Soul Society. But her last question had alleviated those fears.
Sure she pushed a little too hard on the girl, but her answer was telling in many ways. For one she was sure the girl was telling the truth about her little foxhole dream. And with that assumed true then her wholesome marriage after the war dream implied some serious family issues, possibly a lack of family before the war. Teenagers tend to not go for lasting relationships which are more of a child or adult thing, teenagers were all about the passion.
So it was safe to assume she had a screwed-up childhood, possibly an orphan. If she was a dumber reaper she might have said something stupid like 'maybe she'll run into that female soldier in this life.' But she knew the odds and it was better to not let the girl think too deeply about the matter.
Someday she would help the girl come out of her shell. She was sure of that but for now, she let the conversation die as they left the town. Pushing her too hard too fast would just cause her to seal herself off completely. It was better to slowly work at the chinks in her armor on ways to get her to open up.
Maybe if she spoke to someone who was more visibly her age those walls would come down faster. She'd have to set up a date between Tanya and Tōshirō down the line to see if he could break her shell and help her deal with whatever latent trauma she had from the war and possibly before her military service.
Over the 3 weeks of travel to the 40s, Tanya confirmed her suspicions about Rangiku. She was one of those employees, the type who somehow managed to get their work done and then dragged down the other employees to a local bar.
She also quickly confirmed that the 10th Lieutenant knew exactly what she was doing whenever she showed off her low neckline. The woman was incorrigible and enjoyed people's attention, perhaps a bit too much.
But she held her tongue about discouraging these behaviors. She was not the woman's employer and Rangiku was helping her get to Central much faster than it would have taken to walk all the way.
Sure she could have possibly found the stagecoach system without her but it was implied that unless a Soul Reaper was there, you didn't get the discount, which meant she probably would not have made it all the way to Central with the money she had.
Thankfully the woman's efforts were primarily focused on men. So she was safe from her behaviors. However the longer it went on the more worried she became that the woman would try and influence her into some of her bad behaviors.
That worry developed to the point that she was more than willing to pay for both of them to get to Central not caring that Rangiku was not paying for the trip. In fact later on she became suspicious that that might have been the women's plan as she realized she'd never seen the 10th Lieutenant pay for anything when she was around.
Another bad habit Tanya would have to avoid from the 10th Lieutenant. She just hoped that avoiding Rangiku habits would not become standard practice in the future. She needed to maintain some decorum with the woman in the long run if she wanted to have a chance at a safe position. Having a good word from any Lieutenant of the divisions was worth some of the complications the woman brought.
Through the use of the stagecoach, they were able to pass through the 40s to the 30s in quick succession. Turning the 2-month-long trip into a 3-week trip. As they traveled through the districts, Tanya noted that the districts became thinner and more built up as they got closer to Central. When they got just outside the 20s it would be better to call what she saw a metropolis built around a towering mountain.
Looking at the outer walls of the approaching city she wondered what she would find inside, would it be safe and secure or just another battlefield?
Shaking her head she calmed herself. There was the potential that Hollows could attack her here, but there was also the potential Being X could show up. There's a potential the entire universe could blow up. Worrying about something without evidence of an actual threat would just be paranoia and be her downfall. She just needed to take things as they come and maybe plan for her eventual retirement in 1000 years or so.
Writers note:A shorter chapter this week sorta just happen, goal was always 4000 words, 5000 has just been a lucky bonus the last few weeks. But on to my worries… manly shippers and going to burn this down. I don't ship I'm terrible at romance. I will simply write what I write. Another worry is Tanya not being Tanya enough, or not having enough miscommunication. I also may have pushed a little too hard on conversation length it about 3000 words. and guess I'm concerned that the chapter will fall into chapter 2 issues where a lot of telling not showing. Guess I have a lot of concerns with this chapter. But will see what you folks think of the chapter.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: Azura, emberwing, BuzzTech, TimEd, FinalFan
Community edited by:
Community editable doc (Chapter) No story suggestions in the community editing document, Keep all story suggestions and comments in the thread
skrapsynneh: you're welcome, here have some more, you will find this is my own dastardly plan to increase reviews by responding.
EricFreak: oh NO! you pointed the hypocrisy of Tanya's existence. She has become Being T!
Belomor: dismissing criticism will just lead to dumb mistakes.
Guest: I will assume all guests were the same guy. pretty sure in Tayna's case it's just chocolate...
PsylentFox: Here hoping I deliver.
lop90ful1: thank you and here hoping I keep this top tier.
Mark the Mark: I can't wait to figure out what those changes will be. really I fly by the seat of my pants I have no idea what I'm going to do till I do it.
Askaroth: thank the good folk at space battle for the quality, they turn my version 1 trash fires into the better version you folks are reading.