Noble Social Shenanigans: Okami and Azumi [R, Closed Social]

[Azumi Kasumi'Oji]

Just a restaurant. Nice place, casual but expensive, quality food offered from all Earth cultures. Mostly European dishes, though they had some mean Dim Sum at certain morning hours. Azumi sat at a table by a window, watching Seireitei bustle past as she scribbled at some lab notes and waited for her companion to arrive. She hadn't returned to this restaurant since her reappearance at the head of Squad 12, and she was pleased to see that they'd somehow both survived the ridiculous set of cataclysms that had befallen Seireitei in her absence and continued to serve some pretty spectacular meals.


Those aforementioned cataclysms were much of what brought Azumi here today. While she sincerely wished to catch up with her old friend, Azumi also needed to discuss business with Okami. The pair had both spent quite some time away from Seireitei in recent decades, and in that time, some fools in their respective clans had attempted rebellions and gotten quite a few people killed. Azumi and Okami needed to get to the bottom of this nonsense before whoever had sown such discord in their families the previous time struck again. It was time to go on the offensive.


Azumi also certainly looked forward to catching up on more personal, casual matters. She missed talking to Okami, the mentor who had helped her secure her clan's safety on her previous return to Seireitei and taught her so much about the world of nobility (and about assassination). She had many stories to share with her old friend, incredible things she'd seen and done at the Zero Division that she was just bursting to share with someone. That, and someone had given her a message to deliver to Okami, a special someone that the Shihoin head would probably recognize from his most desperate hour...

[Ōkami Shihoin]

Meetings are boring...

Meetings were boring. At least, to the newly appointed Head of the Shihoin Family. He didn't like meetings. Not one bit. Meetings, especially squad meetings, were too strict and rigid. The agendas were always set up in a way so that you couldn't bend it even a little. One slight bend too far and the whole thing would snap. Like a twig. Everything would be in such disarray that hair would start being pulled out. Well, maybe things don't get that out of hand. But still, how boring is that? Sticking to a rigid script annoyed him. There were certain aspects of Soul Society which were like this and which annoyed him to no end, but that's a story for another day.

Speaking of Soul Society, it seemed his Family had gotten into deep stuff just a couple of years ago. He hadn't learned this from Tetsuo, who should have told him everything that had gone on since before his return. Instead, he had to find out about it by snooping around and gathering intel the old fashioned Onmitsukido way. He felt slightly betrayed that he had to resort to gaining information about his family this way; however, since Tetsuo left some things out when he debriefed Okami on the Family's current status, he was left with no choice. From what Okami learned, it seemed he had missed out on alot during those more than 60 years in isolation. Why wasn't Tetsuo-sama direct about these things with me? He guessed that it was probably because of the spies that started following him once he began gathering intel. Yeah, that was probably it.

Guess that foo' thinks these assassins of his can actually tail me. I'll play with them for a little then...

It became apparent that the information he was gathering was quite important to a certain someone. Why? For the moment, he had no clue. Perhaps this meeting would help him to piece things together. How many years has it been...? Forty? Sixty? No, it's more than that. A hundred years? I wonder how much she's grown since then... The Shihoin Head lifted a hand to the long silver tube that was nestled between his lips. He pulled the tube from his mouth, holding it between two fingers and puffed out a thin cloud of white odorless smoke. He sighed and placed the silver tube back in his mouth and once again began walking. I hate meetings... He thought once again. Maybe it wouldn't be so boring though. It wasn't with a squad as it had been during his days as a Captain. It was with only one person, and one of the few people he would be happy to meet with any day, Kasumi'Oji Azumi. She would be sure to keep him intrigued throughout their whole get-together. That was how she always was. At least, this is how he always remembered her.

The Shihoin Head turned a corner and stopped. He lifted his head to read the sign above the building he had just stopped infront of, his black goggles shining as the sun reflected off of them. Noting that he had reached his destination, he took the silver tube from his mouth and pocketed it before walking to the door. Pressing a black-gloved hand to it and pushing inwards, he made his way into the casual restaurant. He stepped into the place and noted how nice it was inside as his eyes moved all around, checking for his lunch partner. Upon noting the beautiful blonde hair, which could only belong to Azumi, he began making his way over to the Kasumi'Oji heir. When he made it to the table she was sitting, a small smile came to his face, something that not many who knew the man ever saw. "Long time no see. Guess that's what happens when you end up taking an unwanted vacation for about 60 years..." He took a seat across from the woman and sat back, marveling at just how much she had grown. "So, how have you been, Azumi-chan?"

[Azumi Kasumi'Oji]

Azumi smiled as she saw Okami enter the restaurant. Nothing like old friends. Giving him a nod of recognition as he approached, she beckoned casually to nobody in particular, knowing that she reeked of high-tipper to the service staff and wouldn’t need to wait more than ten seconds for someone to arrive to serve her and her guest. The Kasumi’Oji may not have operated at the incredible scale of the Kuchiki even before that nonsense rebellion, but Azumi herself still commanded a reputation of wealth and power.

Strangely enough, someone quite obviously following Okami sat down at the bar soon after. The pursuer concealed his attentions to the Shihoin head well enough, but he looked quite obviously out of place in the opulence of this part of Seireitei. He wore the right clothes, tried to hold the right posture, seemingly hit all the right checkpoints, but the clothes still had that un-creased new purchase look, the posture clearly strained him, and his movements came at the wrong pace and rhythm for someone comfortable with the trappings of nobility. At any rate, she could ask Okami about it in a moment.

"Long time no see. Guess that's what happens when you end up taking an unwanted vacation for about 60 years..." The head of the Shihoin took his seat before her. Azumi noted with amusement that this just became arguably the most important lunch in Soul Society. What was this about 60 years? "So, how have you been, Azumi-chan?" Nobody called her that anymore besides Okami. Nagato had, and his family. One or two acquaintances at the Zero Division tried it on once or twice, but it didn’t take after she proved herself their equal in the laboratory. The name itself almost felt like a ghost to her now, a strange phantom lingering from centuries ago.

“Okami.” Hadn’t spoken that name in a long time. Azumi had almost forgotten what that reiatsu felt like, all shadows and stars, scarcely contained explosive power simmering in the dark. She gave his goggles and gloves an appraising glance. “Your gear needs work,” she murmured, almost chuckling to herself. Leave for a bit, and everyone pops up wearing nothing but ordinary glass and leather when you come back. Disgraceful! She would need to upgrade those for him soon. With anyone else in this sort of social environment, she would criticize a bit more carefully, but the pair knew each other so well that she knew she had to say no more than that one phrase for him to understand what she meant. “I’ve enjoyed myself. Where were you for sixty years?” She made sure her eyes remained on her companion as she casually rotated her lab notebook to point the pen resting atop it at the tail she noticed at the bar, somewhat obviously tapping her finger on it to emphasize the point. The tail wouldn’t see it, she had already scanned the reflective surfaces near him. “Make any new friends?”

[Ōkami Shihoin]

She noticed him too. So, I'm not the only one.

The Shihoin head noted this as he sat. His eyes were meticulously scanning the restaurant, just as Azumi's had before he sat before her. He noticed the way her eyes moved to the bar. He imagined she had probably noticed the spy tailing him, just as he had. For someone who had served in the Covert Ops for over two-thirds of his life, doing the exact same thing, it wasn't difficult for him to detect his new fan. It had been back when he was walking here. He had detected a strange presence following him; yet, he made no attempts to lose the spy. Instead, he let the man tail him in order to play with him a little. He wanted to find out just why he was being tailed in the first place. But, that was a matter for another hour. For now, he was in a meeting with an old friend.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Azumi called his name. Her eyes darted from his goggles to his gloves and then back to his face. "Yeah, I've been meaning to get them fixed ever since I got back. Haven't had the time really." Ōkami's speech was a little lazy when he spoke. Normally, he spoke in an articulate way, the way nobles were supposed to speak. The way his father taught him to speak to other nobles. Yet, something about Azumi made him feel like he didn't have to be so articulate and proper. He had known her too long to feel like he should speak to her in such a rigid manner. It was around only her and Benkei that he seemed more laid back when speaking. It was only around those two that he was able to be himself and not the Okami that the Onmitsukido had trained him to be.

His ears perked up when she asked him about his "trip". "You may not believe it," He wasn't sure she might at first. Most who had read about what happened to him didn't believe him. They had thought he had died. Others thought he had run away. For those people, he would always ask them in response just what he had to run away from. When he asked them that, memories of Takeshi would flood his mind. Memories of the greatest friendship he had and the great betrayal he had faced at the hands of his best friend. He didn't know what had happened to his friend after that day. All he remembered was the man with the mask taking him away before he could have taken his friend back. "I was in Hueco Mundo." he said, brooding over all that he had lost during his time there. "During that Holocaust War, Benkei and I were sent out to control the Hollow population at one of the extermination camps. I got separated from him and dragged into a Garganta by some Menos and a Bount..." Okami hated reliving these memories, but he felt it necessary to tell it to his old friend. The only other person he had recounted the story to had been the Captain Commander upon his return.

Okami's eyes darted to the man at the bar, checking to see if he was watching them. He wondered if the man was listening to their conversation. It was at that moment that he noticed Azumi rotating the notebook. He understood the gesture she made and the question she had asked him. "Yeah, I met him while gathering some info about my family. A little too clingy if you ask me." Okami reached out and grabbed the pencil, looking to Azumi for permission for what he was about to do next. If she gave him permission, he would write it as he continued speaking, in a small corner of the book at the bottom. "I'm thinking someone doesn't want me snooping around. I think it's the same someone whose family will do anything for power nowadays, so I've heard..." He said all of this as he scribbled the name 'Kawada' in the small corner of the page. "That foo' thinks his guys can actually track me without me knowing. So the rumors were true, he really does have low expectations of everyone else..." Okami's nose twitched in disgust when he spoke the last part. A scowl formed on his face as he placed the pen down and leaned back. "What do you know about them?" he asked, tapping the corner of the notebook he had just written on.

[Azumi Kasumi'Oji]

"Yeah, I've been meaning to get them fixed ever since I got back. Haven't had the time really." Azumi remembered the first time she’d heard his speech shift from the rigid propriety of formal settings to the casual laziness she heard now. It had actually caught her off guard, quite a rarity – Okami’s black ops training allowed him to so smoothly and completely alternate between behavioral dialects that even Azumi sometimes strained to see through the mask. If not for her energy sensory, she might have believed him to be a completely different person using some sort of illusionary Kido, so well did he mask his personality from analytical observers like her.

"You may not believe it," he responded to her first question. "I was in Hueco Mundo. During that Holocaust War, Benkei and I were sent out to control the Hollow population at one of the extermination camps. I got separated from him and dragged into a Garganta by some Menos and a Bount..." Azumi paused a moment, allowing her clearly distracted friend to collect himself before breaking the silence with her second earlier question, the quip about "new friends". "Yeah, I met him while gathering some info about my family. A little too clingy if you ask me." She smiled at that. As Okami grabbed the pencil, Azumi would subtly shift the notebook forward, giving tacit permission for him to write his surreptitious message.

"I'm thinking someone doesn't want me snooping around. I think it's the same someone whose family will do anything for power nowadays, so I've heard..." Who? Me? Azumi resisted the temptation of the verbal wisecrack, knowing Shinku Sosei would scold her for it. Before she went on, she saw him write ‘Kawada’ on the notebook. "That foo' thinks his guys can actually track me without me knowing. So the rumors were true, he really does have low expectations of everyone else… What do you know about them?"

Azumi felt suspicious. Okami was among the best in his business – if he said the tail was Kawada, then they were Kawada, but this didn’t strike her as Shade’s style. Besides, they should be able to buy a better agent. Someone in the clan definitely sent this tail, but they must be low-level. “I have more questions about your time in Hueco Mundo for later. The Kawada… Wealthy. Very wealthy. Melee-oriented, two captains. Something strange about Kenryoku. Doesn’t have the family hair, and something’s off about his background.”

Azumi suddenly pulled her notebook from the table, gathering her papers in a folder. “Never mind, don’t feel like this restaurant. I have somewhere else in mind, let’s go.” She left some cash on the table, the cost of the drinks plus a generous tip. Rich people, Shinku grumbled sarcastically. She smirked. Okami, with his covert ops experience, would easily infer what she intended: Drawing the tail out further and luring him into a trap, as well as allowing them to spot any other followers Okami had in the area. Azumi moved to leave the restaurant, knowing her longtime friend would follow. She herself already knew many basics of dealing with followers, largely from her time in Florence – erratic turning patterns, force them to make their pursuit obvious, things like that. She looked forward to seeing what her ally had to teach her, trusting him to take the lead as they made their way to Azumi’s fictional “destination”.

[Ōkami Shihoin]

"My money is on that one. The one in control of the Onmitsukido." Okami said this as Azumi was packing up her things. His mind was going over all the information on the Kawada which she had given him. It hadn't been much honestly, but for now it was enough to work with. He would gather more information and add it to what he already had later. For now, this was enough. He already had enough information to make the bold assumption he had just uttered. There was no one else with the power to do so. To command the Onmitsukido to track him. It could be no other group. There was no one else besides them who could be trusted to tail someone like him. Given his current reappearance in the Gotei 13, most had to have read over his file already. Especially his Captain. Just to familiarize themselves with him, to understand what he was capable of, and to come to their own conclusions as to why he would have disappeared for those 100 years.

He noticed Azumi getting up, having missed her stating that they should leave. He had been wrapped up in his thoughts as she was speaking. He noticed her getting up and looked up at her, making no attempts to express the confusion he felt onto his face. It took him a second to grasp where she was going with this. When he did, he also stood up and followed after her. The pair left the nice restaurant and made their way outside. Azumi's plan was twofold, at least he assumed it was. First, she wanted to see if the man was indeed following after him, which they would soon find out if he left the restaurant as hastily as they had. Second, she wanted to draw the man out into the open, maybe even corner and ambush him and then from there interrogate him on the identity of his boss. Ah, it was quite a simple plan, honestly. One that someone of Okami's level wouldn't fall for. But, since he had been able to notice the man, he surmised that this one had no where near his level of expertise in the art. His "new friend" would surely fall right into their hands.

As the pair passed by the glass window, which gave a glimpse into the restaurant, out of the corner of his eye, Okami caught the man beginning to make his move. "On the move." was all he said. He figured with the level of analytical ability she had, Azumi would understand what he meant despite the brevity of his statement. Indeed, it seemed she had as she moved so that he could instead take the lead. His statement had been him confirming that they were infact being followed. Knowing that this was more of Okami's forte than her own, Azumi seemed to be giving the former member of the Onmitsukido the chance to show his garnered expertise. Ah, how nostalgic it all was for him. It reminded him of his days tracking criminals with his father, Jiro. During those times, he had been the predator. Now, he was the prey.

As the pair made their way past the restaurant and into the bustling streets, Okami pulled a spoon from his pockets. The restaurant wouldn't miss it too much, and if they did, the cash Azumi had placed on the table should cover it. Either way, it was being put to much better use now than it would have had it remained at the table they had just left. He held it at waist level, close to his right hip as he walked. Meanwhile, he offered his left arm to Azumi for her to link her right arm around. If she did so, they would be standing a little closer, which would allow them to communicate with one another better, and also give the appearance that the two had left the restaurant simply to be alone and talk. With the spoon, he was using the reflection on it to monitor the man following behind him. He got a better glimpse of him through the spoon than he had before. Before, he had been trying to avoid looking at the man to give the impression that he hadn't noticed him yet. The man was wearing the clothes of a regular on the street. Nothing conspicuous that would have given away his affiliation. Khaki pants, white dress shirt tucked in, black boots, and an unbuttoned brown coat.

"Hmm...looks he chose not to dress like someone from the stealth force. It was a good idea." Okami commended. The man was quite clever, it seemed. Or maybe it was the one who had sent him who was the clever one. Either way, Okami had someone he knew how to play the game on his hands. He pulled Azumi through the crowd in the street, his eyes moving between checking the reflection in the spoon and finding a corner to turn down. He found one just up ahead to his right and turned down it. This led him down a narrow path area with another turn up ahead. This time, there were two ways to go. He made a left turn this time, to take him out of this area and essentially back towards the busy street area. Another left turn took him in the direction he had just come from. A quick glance at the spoon told him that his assailant had done the same, and was probably either quite confused or knew exactly what Okami was trying to do.

The Shihoin made his way through the crowd again, passing the restaurant once again and heading towards an alleyway on the side of the restaurant. Azumi might have gotten lost, so he decided to bring her up to speed. "He's not the only one, it seems. Foo' probably realized it'll take more than one of his guys, but they're not expecting to get cornered." he informed her discreetly. Back when they had first exited the restaurant, he had noticed the man behind them make a weird gesture as he exited. He figured it was some kind of signal. Most likely to the others that were following Okami along with him. Well, if it was a large party they wanted, he would give it to them. Seems like I taught you how to play this game well... Kyukyoku no kasokuki chuckled within the Shihoin Head's inner world, taking delight in the chase.

Okami turned the corner into that alleyway, which led to another left turn. After that left turn was a dead end. As soon as the pair made the left turn, Okami unlinked arms with the Kasumi'Oji head and quickly moved forward. He kicked off of the wall to his right to send him to the left, and then using the momentum from his leap, he was able to run up the wall high enough to grab a bar jutting out from that side of the wall. From there, he swung his way up the building. As he climbed, he signaled for Azumi not to make a noise, and then he disappeared over the top in a blur of speed. When his "new friend" turned the corner, he would find quite the surprise awaiting him. Not only was there a dead end there, but he had lost Okami. He would find himself standing there face-to-face with Azumi. Not for too long though. Leaping from above him, in what would be termed a 'Leap of Faith' in some other world outside of this one, Okami made his way down onto the man, using him to break his fall. The man was sent tumbling to the ground and Okami quickly pulled the man's arms behind his back and placed a knee on them, to keep him from using them. Now, the interrogation would begin.

"So, what's with the obsessive stalking? I returned only a few months ago and it seems I already have fans. Tell me, who sent you and why?" Okami questioned. His voice was stern yet betrayed no emotions of fear or anxiety. He felt neither of these things. Had the man been following a family member, then he might have. But at the moment, he was the only one being affected, and since he could take care of himself against the likes of a scout of this caliber, he was not worried. The man he held made no signs of divulging such important information. Rather, he only squirmed under Okami's weight. This would take some time, time that Okami currently didn't have. He looked up at Azumi, in hopes that she might have a way to make him talk. Some scary scientific experiment she could scare him with or something.