Raging Storm, Gentle Fist

Shungi laid down a bowl of cat food then poured out a bowl of water. He washed it, then refilled the water bowl before laying that near the food bowl. With his son out to play with the other noble boys, the manor of the Otsuboshi clan was quiet. Shungi ran his hands over the scratches over his tatami room but made little of it. After all, he had a meeting to attend to.

Shungi was a colossal man, tall with broad shoulders. Even without his position, he was imposing as he walked down the corridors of the Gotei 6's headquarters. The band on his left arm indicated his rank- lieutenant. The kanji one on his armband representing his prestigious division. It was no surprise then, that when he walked intently without stopping, that the various other shinigami stopped to greet him, only for Shungi to then dismiss them just as promptly. His mission that day was simple. It was a health and wellness check to make sure that every one of the captains was still capable of running their division. That is, in light of recent events.

The lieutenant eventually came to a stop at a wide-open area designated as a common courtyard area for the Sixth Division. Shungi had called for their captain about a week prior, making sure that he had ample time to get ready. He had designated this courtyard as the location of their meeting. As Shungi looked around, he noted the distinct lack of people. "Hm." Shungi huffed, crossing his arms.

Kyo arrived with a gust of wind not too long after Shungi had crossed his arms, he was late though not by much. Stupid paperwork, always taking so much longer than is necessary. But if it didn't get done those he had to turn the paperwork into would demote him, so yeah it needs to be done, as much as Kyo would much rather shred it, and be done with all of the paperwork, it was not worth the lecture. As the wind dispersed revealing Kyoshiro Mibu, his vicious red eyes looking at the vice captain of the first squad who had called him here. Kyo spoke, no sign of respect in his tone, in fact there was a bit irritation in his voice between the desk job and the impromptu meeting, "You called vice captain Shungi?"

Man, I would rather be at the barracks taking out my frustrations on the recruits while whipping them into shape, but instead I am called out here. If Shungi here wasn't the second in command to the head honcho himself I wouldn't have answered his summons, or at least made him come to me. Looking over Shungi, Kyo would have to admit that physically the man was impressive though that didn't mean much especially considering Kyo himself was all wiry muscle though he was considered powerful enough to head up a squad on his own, not just that but the squad whose purpose was to defend the Gotei in it's times of need, as well as handle criminals that may show up among their numbers. "I do apologize for the delay, there was some paperwork that took some extra time to finish, it kind of delayed my arrival"

Shungi had known Kyoshiro at least since he had become captain. Or at the very least, he had known about him. So when Shungi felt the wind blow behind him, he already knew exactly who it was. It also meant that he was aware of the captain's issues, especially with his anger. "Yes. I'm glad you could make it" Shungi answered, trying to remain calm to see if it helped the conversation. Shungi had set up the meeting a week in advance, but he didn't blame the captain for acting as if it was a last-minute thing. After all, they were all very busy men.

"Let's begin then," Shungi stated, producing a pencil and clipboard. On the clipboard was a stack of papers, on which a questionnaire was printed, which the Lieutenant thumbed through quickly before starting off. "The first questions will be rating from one to ten, with one being least satisfied and ten being most satisfied. After I'll ask you to explain your answer. First question. How would you rate your satisfaction with your role as captain?"

Kyo shrugged at Shungi's pleasantries, he was not one for honeyed words, actions mattered more than most, though as Shungi moved on to the purpose of this meeting the red eyed captain could not hide his displeasure. Ugh a questionnaire, really couldn't he have just sent this in the form of a form to fill out. Granted that might be worse what with it being more paperwork. Though I suppose I could have foisted that off to my vice captain to fill out while I smacked some heads around. Taking a moment to think about the question that was asked of him. How satisfied am I with my job, please that is such a stupid question. It doesn't matter how much I enjoy it so long as I do it, and get it done right, if someone more suited came along I would let them take care of it so that I can spend my time in the field one way or another. "I would probably put it at about a solid six. While I enjoy the training and coordinating of the squad itself the constant incessant paperwork that takes up most of my time ruins that. I am not the kind of person who enjoys sitting on their ass with a quill in their hand, I have been a fighter for as long as I can remember, reading and writing feels like a waste of time."

I hope that there aren't too many more of these, if there are I might end up losing what little is left of my patience. 'Oh there is no need for you to be so irritated little wolf, he is just doing his job. Which is to make sure you are capable of doing yours, though I can definitely understand the frustration what with actions being able to say what words do not. The sound of Tenro's Voice echoing in Kyo's head was a welcoming relief, as the wolf's gentle growling tones came with it's normal calming effect on the captains mood.

"I see." Shungi jotted down Kyoshiro's answer, filling in the bubble and writing out his explanation. It was about what Shungi expected. Some days, he felt like the captains of Divisions four through five blended together. Sometimes it included shinigami who were part of auxiliary units like the kido corp and the prison wardens. Of course, unlike them, Kyoshiro was the only captain who had been there before Shungi had even become a shinigami himself. This, to him, was enough to garner some respect. Even if the captain didn't quite act his age.

"Four more." He answered. "How would you rate how the Gotei 6 is treating you?"

Again with a pointless question, if it was at least about policy or where I felt the legal system of the Gotei worked, or you know my job I might actually care. Doubt it though Kyo would shrug, he couldn't care one way or another, so long as there was no blades sticking in his back he didn't exactly care. "Eh I can't exactly put a score to it, it isn't exactly great, it isn't terrible. I am just a sword for them to point where they need it, though I remain sheathed most of the time."

So Tenro, do you see whatever the point to these questions are, like the first one I can kind of understand. But this one is stupid it isn't like there is any one captain who gets special treatment, well aside from the prick at the top. 'I don't know, and honestly if it wasn't for the fact that if this line of questioning keeps going you are going to start answering with my edge I would be still asleep you ungrateful pup.'

"Well then." Shungi wrote down Kyoshiro's response. Looking at the captain, Shungi could see that he was visibly agitated. Even though the captain looked younger, he was still Shungi's senior, and for that reason Shungi had a level of respect for the captain for a reason more than his rank. So he had a conundrum. He wanted to respect the captain by getting a proper answer out of him, so that he could give a proper rating. To expedite the process, however, Shungi opted to write down the captain's answer as a five.

"Next question. How ordered do you think your Division is compared to how it was when you first started as a captain?"

Ah finally one that is not entirely pointless, though it can be seen just from my reports. Though I guess he might be looking for my personal opinion about that, not what I had put in the reports. Keeping his expression as close to emotionless as he could muster Kyo would answer, "Well my predecessor did not keep much in terms of personal files on the squad members so I have been going through them to see why they were assigned to their positions, well at least not organized in anyway I can understand. As for the squad members they had decent enough training, though I will admit that I have made their combat training far more rigerous."

'See pup eventually he will get to the point, or at least the questions will begin to make sense... Well hopefully, though I know with your waning level of impatience if he keeps wasting your time you will do something about it, just remember not to bite off more than you can chew your pack is not present.'

Shungi nodded. "I see. How long have you been a captain? Since I took over as lieutenant... two hundred years ago, we haven't spoken." Shungi remarked, realizing that he hadn't talked to the captain before. He knew why, especially seeing how he was. Captain Kyoshiro was notably one-note, even compared to the others. It wasn't hard for anyone to tell what he was doing at any given moment. At least, not except this one.

"That's not related to the survey, by the way. Speaking of, you do still need to give a rating from one to ten, but let's leave that blank. I can't ask you to rank something you're not so sure of. We can, however, answer the next question, which is how prepared do you think your division is. You said decent enough training, and you made combat training more rigorous." Shungi said as he wrote the answer down.

"Well it has been maybe about a decade or so, honestly I haven't paid much to time that past keeping my focus on the present." Kyo would say, he knew he really hadn't interacted much with others outside of his squad since taking it over, what with all of the cleanup and management he had to do since the reigns were handed to him. Granted his judgement of time passing was kind of muddled to say the least, of course that is one of those things that happens when one lives longer than a millennia, though even by shinigami standards Kyo did not look even a fraction of his age.

"As for the squads preparedness, it would depend as to what they need to be prepared for, like their job of upholding the law and capturing criminals, I would put them at a solid 8. For defending the gotei from outside forces, maybe a 5 or 6 depending on what they have to defend us from." This question was again something that was important, though it was very subjective based on variables that were not included in the request, at least with the extent of what role his squad fills within the gotei there are so many different jobs they cover as the shield of the seireitei.

That was an interesting answer. One that perplexed Shungi, because the sixth division wasn't tasked to defend the gotei from outside forces. He flipped to one of the back pages and wrote his notes down, then flipped back to the first page. "I see, I see." Shungi nodded, as if agreeing with what the captain said. He put down an eight, of course alongside Kyoshiro's answer. On the back page, he annotated that Kyoshiro might be a better fit for the fifth division, and that might be something that could be settled later on at the captain commander's discretion.

"Final question." Shungi said. "How often do members of your division come to you or someone beneath you in the chain of command with ideas? Remember this is a scale of one to ten, with one being nobody and ten being many people often." He explained.

"Maybe a 2 or 3 it hasn't happened all that much, I think some of them are intimidated by me, and others are waiting to see the full extent of the changes I have been implementing before making suggestions just in case what they had in mind was already being implemented." Kyo would respond with a shrug, it took a while but just like Tenro said the questions finally did become relevant, though as Shungi said this was the last question, meaning that this whole ordeal was still a waste of time, at least at this point. Hell if the answers to these questions were absolutely necessary then the vice captain of squad 1 could have made his way to Kyo's office to ask them while Kyo did other work rather than making the red-eyed captain drop everything to come out here.

"So was that all you called me out here for? Or is there some other purpose behind it?" Kyo said his ire flaring back up again.

"This was for the Captain Commander's benefit, not yours," Shungi answered bluntly. He filled out the last question on the page then put the clipboard down, tucking his pen into his uniform where it was hidden. He knew that this line of discussion provoked the captain, and for that reason, Shungi was prepared to fight. Though, that was an inaccurate summation. He knew that he was in danger the moment he called the captain by, even if the meeting had been called a full week in advance, which it was.

"Once the Captain Commander is back from his mission, he'll review everybody's answers. Then, we'll see if the current captains for the different divisions fit his needs. If not, we'll try out new captains." Shungi explained.

"Ah so yes, so all of this for a questionnaire that makes no sense as to why it needed to be answered Kyo would ask yet again, because if there was no other reason for it other than these five stupid questions then Kyo would definitely be irritated, though at least Shungi came to him. "Like no practical testing or anything like that so this decision is going to be based entirely on these questions? Cause honestly that does not seem like the best way to determine whether or not a person deserves a position, or fits well in that position. Honestly it would be better to review their achievements and see them in action first hand."

Kyo would shrug at that point, he knew full well that on paper, and his answers to these questions did not really make him seem captain material. He was more of a man of action than words, and his results speak for themself, or at least should.

"As a matter of fact, captain, your merits have already been looked at and are pending review from the captain commander when he returns from his mission," Shungi replied. To him, that was an inane question. After all, the Gotei didn't do things for no reason. Shungi wasn't fully aware if Kyoshiro himself knew, but just about every mission the captain had been on in his tenure as a shinigami had been on record. Shungi had taken the time to review several of them himself. Or, at least, he skimmed them, mostly to get ready for this particular interview. So there were a few preconceptions Shungi already had coming in. The interview only solidified them.

"While I do believe there should be a practical test to see if you are currently physically fit to be captain, I'm afraid I'm in no position to do such a thing. I haven't been in the field in fifty years, so I'm a little rusty." He explained, looking almost embarrassed to have to say such a thing. "I've been teaching my son how to shunpo lately, and he's almost as good at it as I am now." He joked.

"Ah so long as this questionnaire is not the only thing that my position is being judged on. Especially since not all of them seemed to feel like they had anything to do with my position as captain. Of course I am not much of a big picture kind of person so who knows" Kyo's temper was cooling a bit now that he knew his role was not going to be determined entirely by some stupid questions. And the follow up response about a physical test made the captain laugh loudly. The fact that the captain commander let his immediate subordinate get so out of shape was absolutely ridiculous. The captain commander was supposed to stand head and shoulders above everyone else in the Seireitei and his second should at least be on par with the top tier, and here this person is claiming to not even be able to see if a captain is fit to lead. "Well I suppose if all the captain commander has you do is running errands like this then you may get rusty, but as prominent of a position as you hold, letting yourself get so rusty may not be the best idea, if you have nothing else to do today I can help you shake some of that off."

Shungi tried to read the subtext. He knew that the captain was looking for a fight, and from his actions during the questionnaire, it seemed as if it were something he really needed. "I promised my son I'd be home tonight to teach him kido basics, and our new cat's been scratching at the door to my tatami room. Yes, I think I have about an hour before I have to go do something." Shungi stated. From his experience, most spars with captains didn't take more than ten minutes, simply due to how quickly they moved in combat. Even if Shungi was rusty, he was still a lieutenant with a lieutenant's level of power. More importantly, even if he had things that he was weak at by natural talent, he made up for them by mastery of strong basics, so he was confident in his ability to take on a much stronger captain.

Taking the initiative, Shungi walked forward to the center of the mostly empty courtyard. He released just enough spirit energy to warn the others left in the area to clear out. The lieutenant slipped his nodachi-sized zanpakuto from his belt. He left it within its sheath. The wood construction of the hilt and sheath made it appear as if it were a single object, the length of the zanpakuto giving it the impression of a walking stick. In this case, however, it had the impression of a staff.

First, Shungi held the zanpakuto on his side with the tip on the ground as he gave a bow. Then, he took on a basic fighting position with his left foot forward, his right foot back, his right hand at the seam between the hilt and sheath, and his left hand halfway up the sheath. It was a staff stance.

Smiling that he was going to atleast get a bit of a work out from this Kyo would flash his most sadistic grin, drawing his blade a huge gust of wind whipped through the battle field. There was no need to release the sword as of yet, so he did not have the same reach that his opponents blade did, though near as Kyo could tell Shungi's Zanpakuto was less a blade, and more of an overgrown stick, but to each their own. "Well that is more like it, though I suppose I should pull some punches this way you can make your appointment on time and in one piece."

Taking up his position opposite of the vice captain Kyo would bow slightly, as the wind itself wrapping his blade though unlike his normal use of his elemental control this time it seemed to be cushioning the edge, blunting his blade. Preparations ready Kyo would charge in with a simple shunpo swinging his blade in a downwards diagonal slash from his right to left. Should Shungi block the strike, the second their weapons clash Kyo would loosen his grip allowing the impact to rotate his blade, gripping it again in a form of a reverse grip he would use a gust of wind to accelerate a thrust of his pommel into Shungi's midsection.

The position was simple enough and he already expected an attack the moment he noticed his opponent get ready. Shungi would have liked for there to be a bit more formalities, especially given their leadership positions. He wanted to set a good example of sportsmanship for the lower ranking shinigami. It was fortunate then that there wasn't too big an audience for this particular sparring session.

Appearing in front of Shungi was perhaps a mistake, given that Kyoshiro knew how long Shungi's zanpakuto was- six feet from base to tip- almost as long as Shungi was tall. In other words, Shungi had the reach advantage, with his arm's length due to his taller stature being a contributing factor. Shungi leaned forward and shifted his weight toward his right side as his zanpakuto slid forward in a jabbing motion in his left hand. This jab was aimed at Kyoshiro's center and there was a good foot of length between the tip and Shungi's forward hand and even more distance still between his hand and the rest of his body. Even more as Shungi pushed the zanpakuto forward toward his opponent with his aft hand, like a pool cue.