Shihoin Affair: A Family Meeting [PG-13, NDE, Social]

[Ōkami Shihoin]

Times have changed.

During those 100 years of isolation, the Soul Society and the Gotei 13 had changed. New enemies had come and passed. Now even newer enemies are on the horizon. Strength must be obtained, both physically and politically. Trust earned. And alliances must be forged to combat these new enemies and ensure the security of the family.

This meeting has been called to learn of the matters within Soul Society, to spend time with family, and to discuss the various things that have occurred recently. With the promotion of a large majority of the family members to high positions within the Gotei 13, it is time for the family to make its own move, outside of the prying eyes of other noble families.

And so, the Shihoin have been called here, to an elegant meeting room within the Shihoin compound, where the Head normally entertains meetings with other noble Heads.

What will come about from this meeting of family members?

[Kisala Shihoin]

Kisala walked down the halls of the Shihoin manner. A feeling of nostalgia swept over the young Shinigami as she walked down the halls where she played in her childhood. A small smile crept across her face, as the memories came back to her one after another. The memories of her playing with her older sister were the most prevalent in her mind. But, sadly she was not here to just relive the past. She had important matters to discuss with the rest of the family. 

Kisala still wore her vice captain's uniform thinking that it was the most formal yet still comfortable thing that she could think to wear for this kind of situation. She has not seen her sister much since her promotion. Kisala hasn't really seen much of the rest of her family for that matter. Her duties to her squad has been keeping her busy, as well as training with her captain to get used to her new position and grow more confident that she can handle the responsibility. 

Kisala walked up to the door to the meeting room and slipped in quietly. She would have thought that she would have been the last to arrive, but was rather surprised to see that she was the first one to make it. She walked over to one of chairs and leaned against one lightly. She did not feel like sitting and trying to get comfortable. She knew she wouldn't be able to. Kisala never felt comfortable around this room.

Where talks of family politics within the family or other noble houses are done. Those things Kisala never cared about. In fact she distanced herself from such things even though she knew of her sister's intentions. She felt that it was better to just ignore such things. Her duty was to protect the Soul Society as a whole, but it was her personal mission to protect the family. The two seemed to be in constant competition with each other. She sighed as she crossed her arms waiting for the rest of her family to arrive.

[Francis Grin]

Emiko Shihoin was actually the next to arrive, with a quartet of Onmitsukido operatives in tow. She would more or less kick open the door and strike a pose, grinning at her fellow family members. "What up bitches?!" she would say with exuberance, immediately slamming the doors behind her on half her entourage. The two Onmitsukido with her would stand still for a moment before one simply burst into shadows, and the other would take off the customary facemask.

"God damn it, stealing my fucking lines...." Grin would grumble to his wife as he revealed himself before pulling a chair out for her. Once she was seated, Grin would simply perch on the top of a chair next to her, taking a hunched over postion. No point to not practice and improve his balance while this meeting was going on.

[Kimiko Shihoin]

Moving through the inner workings of the actual manor Kimiko made her way to the meeting room that her family was currently occupying. Kimiko had been out training for the last twelve hours and was honestly rather tired yet upon receiving the information that Okami had called this meeting she knew it was her duty to addend and it would be a very rude statement to not to do so. Her training had been long and tiring and during all of it the majority of her clothing had been torn to pieces. So upon receiving the order to addend the meeting Kimiko had given her Captain Haoki to the servant and then transformed into her animal body.

That was how at the moment Kimiko was having a rather fun time of moving through the ceiling of the manor. Actually moving above the ceiling where the wooden supports had been placed in order for each floor to hold and stay stable. There was absolutely no light where she was so it was a good thing that this wasn't the first time that Kimiko had done this and that she could hear the sound of her older sister Emiko acting outrageous like normal. Making her way to the grate at the ceiling where the cool air was filtered throughout the manor and into the room Kimiko even while in the same form of a squirrel ripped her away through the metal.

Once inside the air grate Kimiko without a sound made her way to the exit where the air was being funneled into the meeting room below. She crawled through the small sections that allowed the air to pass through into the room taking only a moment or two to do so. After that Kimiko dropped from the ceiling landing on the table in the center of the room. It was only a moment or two after Grin had perched himself on a chair. Kimiko looked around and saw that both her sisters were here as well as Francis yet Okami hadn't arrived yet. "Emiko, Francis, Kisala good to see most of the family can show up prior to my tardy ass." Kimiko wasn't sure if Okami was in the room right now she knew that he was sneakier then her and might still be able to surprise her so she was trying to get him to reveal himself so all this could progress and she could get some sleep. It was weird though Kimiko still wasn't used to hearing her words spoken in the voice of a muscle bound man while in her form.

[Ōkami Shihoin]

”Good, I’m glad you all could make it.”

That was the voice of the Shihoin Head. Those present within the room would recognize it immediately. They would recognize his voice immediately and turn to gaze upon the Shihoin Head as he made his way into that extravagant meeting room. Beneath the goggles he wore, his golden maize eyes regarded all four of his family members warmly. A small smile came to his face then, something that was uncommon for the man known as Ōkami Shihoin. But, this was his family. These people were his flesh and blood and blood by extension, in regards to Grin. Therefore, they deserved to see the real him, the Ōkami Shihoin not bound by his role as member of the Black Ops Division. This was always how he treated family. Only outsiders saw the Ōkami masked by distrust and lies, a persona he was forced to wear as a member of that Secret Division.

Following behind him was a second man. This one would also be recognizable by the four present in that room. He boasted an air of authority and superiority about him. There was a confidence and charisma that he oozed without even yet speaking. He was a man that knew power and knew how to charm. His hair was a very dark purple with gray streaks along the sides, slicked back so that he looked proper and gentlemanly. His face was of a caramel color, as was the rest of his skin. In appearance, his face resembled that of the Shihoin Head. If one looked closely, they would clearly see the resemblance between the two of them. Except for the eyes. This one's eyes were a lighter gold than those of Ōkami's and much more exuberant. The man smiled with his eyes even before his mouth opened up to give them all a big smile. Perfect white teeth would be visible when he smiled. He was the spitting image of his oldest brother, Jiro Shihoin. Kisala and Kimiko had never met the man that had been Ōkami's father, but looking at this man now, most would mistake him for Jiro himself. Both were tall and muscled, with dark purple hair that even Ōkami inherited before shaving away. He was the father of at least four of the family members presently in the room, and of one of those four he was father-in-law to. This man, with such an authoritative aura, was Tetsuo Shihoin, former Head of the Shihoin Family after Jiro's death and former Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukido.

"Kisala, Emiko, Francis, Kimiko. Thank you for coming." Ōkami said, nodding towards each person in the room as he addressed them personally. When he reached Kimiko, his eyes glanced over her squirrel-like form and an even bigger smile formed on his face. He looked away after that and calmly took a seat facing them all at that large rounded table. He gestured for Tetsuo to sit in the seat next to him, which was one seat away from his daughter, Kisala. There were two more seats left, another seat after Kisala's own, and one more next to the one Francis leaned on. Kimiko would be able to take either one of those seats. Ōkami was sitting with Emiko to his right and Tetsuo to his left and the table was large enough where everyone could see one another clearly.

"Ah, I'm so delighted to see that so many of you came. Emiko, Kimiko, Kisala. You've all grown up so much." his eyes lit up when he called out the names of his daughters. He addressed them each, smiling towards each one when he called their names. All three had been able to become Shinigami, something that he had not necessarily wanted for his daughters, but decided was best for protecting the family. Not only were they just Shinigami, two of them were high-ranking officers in the Gotei 13 and the third was a member of the Special Task Force Division, the Onmitsukido. Not even Jiro had seen such success with his own children, but then again, he had only bore one child. It had taken he and Ayame some time to even conceive Ōkami, and with the amount of preparations Jiro had been putting Ōkami under in order to become Head, it didn't seem as if he would have had time for a second or even third child. The two of them had been happy with Ōkami alone.

And with that, the meeting would begin. The tension in the air that Kisala thought she would feel was not there. The atmosphere was light and friendly. With Tetsuo there, the air was calm in that meeting room. "I'm glad that we could all finally meet together. It's been some time. I also want to congratulate everyone on their respective promotions." Ōkami's eyes gazed around at his family members once again. He was proud of his family. He would do anything to protect the Shihoin, until his last breath. And to see such success recently in his family, it made him feel even more happy. For him, having three Shihoin as Captains wasn't necessarily a way for them to catch up to the Kuchiki. No, not at all. Having three members of the Shihoin family as Captains meant that his family was stronger now. They could protect the family better now with their strength. It also meant that they had been able to rise out of the destruction that had wrought them during his absence under Hiroshi Shihoin's leadership.

"I'm glad to be back. Those long years in Hueco Mundo took their toll on me, and I missed out on a lot that had occurred amongst my family." he began solemnly. It hurt to remember those long 100 years of solitude. Had it not been for the white-haired man in the mask, he never would have escaped that place. But, he had never told anyone except Azumi how he had even been able to escape. Most, even the Captain Commander had been told that he had piggy-backed on one of the Espada's Garganta to Soul Society, given that they attacked so frequently. He would keep this secret of how he returned to himself, given that Azumi was now no longer around. Let's begin with a little debriefing. Does anyone wish to share any news? Anything that's happened recently?" His eyes looked around beneath the tinted goggles, hoping someone had something they wanted to bring up. He would wait some time for someone to speak up before he spoke up himself. "If not, then I can begin with why I called you all here..." he said, a sudden glare appearing over one of the eyes of his goggles as he said this. The meeting had officially begun.


OOC: Alright everyone, let's get this thing started! Currently, there is no posting order. So post as you wish, only make sure that there is at least one post from someone different between each of your own posts.

[Kisala Shihoin]

Kisala smiled back at her father. It was her first genuine large smile in quite some time. She knew how hard it must be for him to know that his daughters were in constant danger, but allows them to do what they think is right anyway. Kisala thought that he must be proud how well they have gotten in the end. Kisala then returned her attention to Okami. He asked for a debriefing if anything happened to them. She kept silent about her interactions with Sozen for now. There was no need to bring undo attention to her.

Kisala leaned forward once Okami was ready to talk about why he had gathered them here. Kisala was eager to get this over with. If it was just a casual meeting, she would insist on staying as long as possible, but her disinterest in family politics were well known to say the least, but she at least made an effort to pay attention to what was going on around her for her immediate families sake more than anything else.

[Francis Grin]

Emiko would give her father a gentle smile for the compliment. Compliments like that from her father tended to be few and far between. As such, this made a moment like this all the more meaningful. However, there wasn't much time to dwell on this fact. After all, there was important matters to discuss now.

"Our most recent social gathering was quite enlightening in regards to our fellow families," she said, taking a file out of Grin's hand as she spoke. "The Kawada head is... interesting, to say the least. Makes Francis look positively well-mannered. Oh, and apparently one of the Kuchiki adoptees is married to a Quincy. What's really great about that is that I have yet to tie this Quincy to an organization. What I do know is that he regularly comes into and out of the Soul Society. If I had a few more eyes on him, I'd be able to tell you more about him. I just hope that Hotaru had the sense to not involve herself with an active Hollow killer. It'll be even worse if she thinks that she could try to turn a member of the Vandenreich."

"That's fucking nothing compared to the shitstorm that Sozen would get for giving something like that the go ahead. I'm not certain how many people even know that he's a Quincy. Only reason we figured it out was thanks to Emi's read on his reiatsu. Not gonna lie, after our most recent Quincy ordeals, I don't think I can be comfortable with one coming in and out of the Soul Society whenever the fuck he feels like it."