The Strongest New Hire Yet [CLOSED, PG-13]

[Zeich Yajuu]

Haiiro waited patiently for Kazura to finish his own perspective, and it was obvious that he was listening intently; when he had a disagreement, the wolf's head would tilt, as though he were confused, or his expression would shift towards something more... well, a wolf's face couldn't perform the same shift of emotions as a human's could, so what was meant to be a look of non-comprehension looked like a half-formed snarl. However, by the end of it, the Zanpaktou spirit had a pretty good idea of Kazura's side of the discussion, so he quickly countered with Zeich's own.

“I respect your thoughts on the matter, Mr. Uzaki, but please understand again that Master is used to a far more efficient model. He's used to working with Shinigami, who heal far faster than humans due to a difference in medical specialties and their natural bodies being generally more durable, so the wound he inflicted on you wouldn't have held you up for more than a day in his eyes. Even if it did, you are still able to communicate with and schedule an opportunity for Master to meet with your other employees. Second, you mention your employees being out of the country, yet your suggestion of bringing on said employees for Master's mission suggested that they were on hand and readily available, so that might have been a miscommunication.”

Haiiro paused at this point, however, looking somewhat troubled. Unlike Zeich, the wolf had no skill in keeping up a “poker face,” and as a result his expressions were very much apparent, albeit somewhat alien on a wolf instead of a human. “As for other people, well... I will admit, Master is a typical mindset when it comes to Shinigami. Mod Souls were ordered to be exterminated once they were determined to be a threat to Soul Society, canceling the project and marking all of them as dangerous weapons. Bounts, most of us are not as much against, but they still have the threat of devouring human souls. This means that that while we will not often act directly against them, as we would Mod Souls, any one of them that was determined to have eaten a human soul, removing it from the cycle and unbalancing both worlds, well... that's a kill-on-sight order.”

“Finally, Quincies... Quincies are also KOS, but for an even more compelling reason than for Mod Souls. Quincies have the ability to destroy spiritual beings with their arrows. However, unlike Shinigami whose Zanpaktou actually purify souls and move them through the cycle, leaving the balance intact, Quincies destroy them. If it's one soul, the upset to the balance is minimal, but when they kill a Hollow, who is often a large conglomeration of souls, it can create a large imbalance when as many as a hundred or more souls are simply erased. Shinigami do not actively hate Quincy; they fear them, and what they could do to destroy both worlds. 'The road to Hell is oft paved with good intentions,' I believe the phrase is.”

“If you wish to earn Master's complete trust, you have to understand his mindset. He does not actively hate any of these people. He does a duty, one that has been given to him for a century and then some now. He protects not only Soul Society, but the human world, and I believe that will always be the duty in his heart, Shinigami or not. That, and I don't think Master is truly capable of 'hating' anyone, at least not yet; his emotions and personality are so guarded that any emotion stronger than a mild dislike or disgust is rare. You've actually seen, just now, what happens when he feels anything stronger than those mild emotions; it causes him to erupt instead of simply seethe, as he's not used to expressing himself so strongly.”

“Ah, but I've said too much. Master doesn't like it known that his emotions are somewhat mixed and fragile at the moment, having only recently broken free of a more apathetic shell. Part of my role in his life is the expression of and sentient form of the more positive aspects of his soul and personality; as you can imagine I'm quite a party person, and I enjoy the crowd. That's why he often sends me as opposed to coming himself; I can talk on a more positive and respectful level with others, while he tends to come off as distant and angered or disgruntled. It's not that he's a mean person or anything, it's just that... well, anyway. Enough about Master. Hopefully I've assuaged your worries for now, and we can move on to taking this mission.”

[Kazura Uzaki]

It was a lot to take in, and even though Kazura could process data very quickly, he needed time to process his emotions and his thoughts about the matter. He listened throughout Haiiro's very polite discussion, offering no interruptions or comments. He wanted to understand his employee, and he was given an eye opening look past the man's mask and into his heart. That was dangerous knowledge, information about one's heart, and information that he took very seriously. Haiiro concluded the explanation of Ziech's actions and rationale, which made perfect sense in Kazura's mind. He should have seen it himself. With a nod, the fullbringer continued.

"Thank you, Haiiro. I overreacted, and for that I apologize. Let me tell you what I know. I'll start from the beginning. I met a client a few weeks back for tea at the cafe just across the street from this building. The client had done something to get on the bad side of a local gang, to which they responded by sending thugs to rough him up and take him to their leader or something. I helped out, they pulled guns and fired on us. Very uncommon for this country, and when I stopped all of those and took a look at them, they were weapons that I had created myself."

I don't sell weapons to thugs, I keep tight control on that, or at least I try to. I tracked the serial numbers to a completely normal sale to the Senzaikyu Prison system on a remote island. From what I know, which is very little, they deal in extremely high security convicts, especially life sentences for people with unnaturally long lifespans, which is why they are supplied by spiritual companies like Uzaki Enterprises. The shipment in particular was marked as missing when the cargo boat sank en route. So I reshipped it. I thought I had recovered all that was still viable, but apparently not. I don't have any idea who could have taken it or would even have known about the shipment in the first place. Anything else that you'd like to know about the circumstances?

[Zeich Yajuu]

“The Senzaikyu Prison system!?” This was an outburst that was a bit surprising from Haiiro, after his calm and relaxed manner. The wolf's fur seemed to bristle, and for once he actually seemed directly surprised. For a moment he was quiet, as though thinking, yet a moment later he looked up at Kazura, his eyes narrowed and his expression more serious than before. “Hold on, I've called Master back. He'll be here shortly, as he's just outside the building, and he's going to want to hear this directly from you. This could be a really important matter, depending on the circumstances.” The wolf actually started to pace, and to Kazura that was all it would seem to be, but the truth was that Zeich and his Zanpaktou Spirit were talking, exchanging information as they went.

The shipment went missing near the Senzaikyu Prison system... I don't know a lot about the one in the human world, but what I do know is that it's one of a pair with the other being in Soul Society. It is said that some of the most dangerous criminals we've known are kept within them, sealed away. Worse yet are rumors that there are even worse monsters whose very existences are unknown and forgotten. While common weapons don't worry me by themselves, what worries me is what could have taken them and why.

I don't know, Master. It's already strange enough that such a high-end prison with many spiritual guards in charge of guarding some of the greatest threats to both world would order weapons, even from a spiritual manufacturer like Uzaki Industries. And basic weapons that cannot shoot a spiritual target? Tools alone won't cut it. We're going to need to look deeper into this...

Agreed. The doors were thrown open again, but Zeich's gaze wasn't angry behind his mask this time; instead, they were focused, even without being able to see anything. Quickly he strode over to Kazura's desk and, rather than sitting down again, stood in front of his “employer.” “Alright, Kazura, we're going to need to have a little talk, and I'm going to need every scrap of information you have on this matter. Because there are a lot of little details that aren't adding up, and I'm becoming more and more suspicious of this whole mess. So either you're going to tell me everything, or I will find the first Shinigami I meet, damned be the consequences, and expose this whole process to Soul Society, which could have an adverse effect on you. Not to mention your dealings with a Vizard. I am going to explain a bit to you first. After that, I will ask questions, and you are going to answer, alright?”

Even Haiiro didn't move to interject, backing away and letting his master talk. “Before leaving the Gotei, I was a member of Squad 7, in charge of Internal Affairs. Many referred to us as the police squad, and it wasn't inaccurate; we handled most of the arrests and investigations in tandem with Squads 6 and 9, though we did the majority of the groundwork. Therefore, let me assure you now that I know very much what I am talking about in this situation, as few know much about the Senzaikyu Prison system. Even as a ranking member of the police squad, my information is still fairly basic, and anyone outside was mostly ignorant of the situation.”

“The Senzaikyu Prison has two major containment areas, one in this world, and one in the other. They keep prisoners of extremely high threat to both worlds captive there, bound and guarded by some of the strongest spiritual combatants in either world in order to prevent them from breaking free. They don't just employ basic arms and bullets, even spiritual; they use their own unique powers and some of the stronger tools generated by the greatest minds in Soul Society to keep the peace. So if you've kept up with me this far, you've noticed a disparity, one that piques my interest.”

“Why did you ship basic arms to a prison system that makes use of highly advanced spiritual abilities and technology, especially if they didn't include the bullets used to actually attack spiritual beings? What reason would they have to order such a thing? And are you sure that these arms are all you shipped out? There was no other tools, no other technology that could have fallen into someone else's hands?” Suddenly it was obvious why Zeich was so suspicious; it seemed highly unlikely that anyone would purchase simple weapons, even with tool attachments like Kazura had mentioned, when they had superior spiritual abilities and tools that were used to contain these great threats.

“Well? Is there anything you 'left out' or 'forgot'?”

[Kazura Uzaki]

Zeich came back, quite riled up about the whole thing. Kazura really had no clue that saying his client's name could have had this reaction in the man. He got a lot of information, most of which he had no idea about. The last statement of the Vizard's, though, was a bit out of line. "I'm not going to hide something from my employees, especially one that is going to undertake an important mission from me. Especially not if what I'm hiding is going to get them hurt or killed. What do you expect, that I'm just going to tell you "Oh wait, there is more, I shipped them a ton of nukes too!" No. I received an order for basic guardsman equipment, such as my impact resistant armors and guns, I checked them out to the best of my ability and determined them to be a credible organization, so I made the sale and shipment. That's really all that I know. Now, will you take the job or not?"

[Zeich Yajuu]

It seemed that Kazura was starting to show some backbone. That was good; Zeich had taken the man as a very passive individual up until this point, determined to talk things out without anything to back it. But now he was starting to get his back up, and show that he had at least a little willpower behind all that talk. Zeich didn't quite step back, simply taking his hand off of the table and standing straight again. His golden eyes would seemingly bore down into the man before him, that gaze unyielding even as the former Shinigami crossed his arms before him, his posture somewhat more passive than it had been a few moments before, when he had so readily interrogated the man who was supposed to be his employer.

“Of course I will take the mission. If it wasn't obvious, there's something going on here, and if it relates to the Senzaikyu Prisons, then I am going to look into it. Shinigami or not, it is my duty to investigate into this matter.” With that, the Vizard turned and headed towards the door. “I am going to gather supplies, if there's nothing else pressing that we need to discuss. Leave the details with Haiiro, he'll transmit them to me and we'll get moving as soon as I'm ready.” With that, he disappeared yet again, vanishing as quickly as he had returned. Haiiro watched him go with something akin to a wry expression, shaking his head almost wearily at his master's actions.

“Always with the duty, Master. You can't just let yourself want to do something, can you...?” He spoke softly, almost absently to himself, forgetting that Kazura was within earshot and could probably hear him. But it was a true statement; Zeich always claimed that any actions he took were his duty, his role as a Shinigami despite his exile. And in his eyes, that was the truth, as Zeich did not possess wants, goals, desires. What he had was a mission, an order to protect the balance of the two worlds however he could. Oh, there had been a spark of interest, a desire to step up and do something rather than sitting idle, but that spark had been extinguished almost moments later, as Zeich decided that he would do it simply because it was his job to do so. Haiiro just didn't understand why his master wouldn't take a personal interest in things as opposed to a professional one, to find some sort of purpose in doing something of his own volition.

Looking up, Haiiro only just seemed to notice Kazura again. “Ah, yes. Sorry, Mr. Uzaki, I was distracted for a moment. Please, feel free to pass on any information including coordinates of sightings along with any files containing information on the armaments involved, preferably including schematics. You may keep the blueprints here, of course; I can simply look at them to transmit them to Master. I may not have the eidetic memory that some may lay claim to, but we will be able to at least get the major details so that we know how to best counteract and neutralize any equipment the enemy may have. We have no doubt they'll somehow have found bullets to harm spiritual entities, so understanding the capabilities of your weapons will be helpful, along with the weak points in the armor.”

[Kazura Uzaki]

It had been settled. Zeich would take the job, but would still communicate through Haiiro for the fine details. The wolf had asked for sightings, schematics, and shortcomings. Kazura got out a map of the town, circling neighborhoods where the gangs tended to congregate. He also gave some areas in the rest of the surrounding cities and towns, though he didn't know those as well as his own town of course. The schematics and weaknesses of the armaments were easy to procure and explain to the wolf, who would then relate it to The Wolf. When all of the business was done, Kazura gave Haiiro a simple form for the Vizard to fill out. He had previously mentioned the paperwork for the promotion, so it shouldn't come as a surprise.