A Tragic Misunderstanding

The bar was bustling as usual. Loud, obnoxious and overwhelming. But it was the only good place to get a real good stiff drink, and so Shuya simply tolerated it. He sat at the bar, mostly the louder carousing unseated Shinigami who were making a ruckus, casting the occasional perplexed/disapproving glance. But he wasn't wearing his haori -- He was just wearing his more pedestrain sleeveless shihakushō -- and as far as most were concerned no Captain would grace this bar with their presence. So he was ignored. Which was fine by him.

That wasn't to say that Shuya was in a state to be condescending. He was a few drinks in, and his red cheeks gave away his drunken state. He was at least properly buzzed. So perhaps he could convert that disdain for the stupid unseated soldiers there into a little bit of amusement. Maybe.

He swirled his sake around in its cup absently, taking another sip, letting his mind wander to nowhere at all.

The bar was relatively crowded, more so than usual. Normally, Astrid would be confused as to why and probably try to figure out the reasoning for it, but right now she was far too toasted to give a rat's ass. She pushed her way past a few Shinigami, some of whom made comments as she did so, but she ignored them all and continued towards the bar. When she arrived, she sat down next to another Shinigami she didn't recognize, and held up a finger to the bartender. He wordlessly put down another large mug, which Astrid downed in under six seconds, slamming the mug on the table and glancing at the Shinigami next to her.

"You're kinda cute," she said in a deep, masculine voice. She hated the way she looked, and hated even more the way she sounded. She glanced over the Shinigami a few times. He was half a foot shorter than her, and had thick long black hair with piercing red eyes. Astrid had short red hair and matching eyes, and didn't even wear standard a standard shuhakushou, opting instead for an orange outfit which reveals her midrift. She held up two fingers to the bartender, who placed down two mugs in front of her. She slid one over to the other Shinigami and winked as she picked hers up and downed it again.

Shuya stopped mid drink, hearing the Shinigami sit next to him. He got a pint, downed it, and slammed it on the table (the sharp noise making Shuya twitch) and he said to Shuya that he was kinda cute.

Immediately there was a feeling of curiosity within the 2nd division captain, but even in his alcohol-addled state he knew better than to wear that on his face.  Instead, he took another sip, aloof as can be, setting his drink on the bar. He looked at the Shinigami, who he didn't recognize, and with a raised eyebrow, asked. "Out of curiosity, what makes you think I'm into men?" He wasn't public about his preferences at all, being more of one of those duty-focused prude types. "Did someone tell you, or was that a lucky guess?"

Unfortunately for the both of them, there was, in fact, no lucky guess here.

Astrid thought about ordering another beer while she waited on the cute boy to talk, but eventually he set his drink down and asked her why she thought he was into men.

Immediately, her eyes lit up as they were flooded with reiatsu. The barkeep, having a few expectations of what was about to happen, started to run away which prompted a few other patrons who weren't previously paying attention to Astrid to now be fully aware that she's pissed off.

"How DARE you." Most people in the bar stopped talking, and the vast amount of attention was now on Astrid and Shuya. "I am ASTRID. BRYNHILDR. I am a VIKING, a SHINIGAMI, and a WARRIOR." She stood up and grabbed the mug on the counter next to her, slamming it into the edge of the counter to break it into pieces, grabbing one of them at random and holding the pointy end of it towards Shuya. "I am NOT a man. And you will PAY for your mistake."

Casually tossing the piece of glass at Shuya, which was meant as a distraction rather than an attack, Astrid pulled out her Zanpakutou and flexed her reiatsu.

"To Battle!, Enkidu!" She shouted, the red wakizashi transformed into a pair of ornate axes. A few voices in the crowd murmured about how 'he was in for it now', since no one currently knew who Shuya was. A large opening in the crowd appeared as most people had by now evacuated the immediate area, not wanting to be near Astrid when she got like this. "I am the STRONGEST unseated Shinigami in the Gotei Eight, and I will prove it yet again. Draw your worthless Zanpakutou, or die. I don't care which."

She was clearly infuriated, but also clearly drunk, having the telltale blush across her face and hazy look in her eyes. Fortunately for Astrid, she was extremely familiar with the sensation of fighting while drunk, and was more used to this than she was being sober.

Shuya tilted his head as the revelation was upon him. This was, apparently, a woman. Perhaps he would've been more considerate were he not sloshed, but the time for apologies quickly passed as Shuya lazily dodged the glass thrown his way.

She introduced herself with fire in her voice, that didn't make her identity any more clear at all. She wasn't from his division, that much was obvious. How was he supposed to know every random unseated shinigami? And as he scanned the crowd, they were on her side, seemingly oblivious to his identity. Not a one knew who he was, and honestly? That hurt a little bit. It seemed only the barkeep knew who he was -- and that was because he told him earlier.

He drew his sword, holding it lazily in his right hand. It would be wildly inappropriate to start off with -- but he wondered if she could make him use it...

"Come. Show me what you've got." He said, a smirk playing on his reddened face.

The woman unleashed a wild fury of swings from her axes, coming at Shuya from every which angle she could muster, all of them being swings at her full power and aimed with intent to seriously injure the poor man. She was too drunk to sense any spiritual pressure off of him, and was entirely unaware of how much stronger than her he was.

Eventually, she ended the assault of slashes with a forceful kick, which if it landed was followed up with an axe throw. The axe, thrown after Shuya was kicked, had no rights catching up to him, but instead Astrid was suddenly at its location, holding onto it like she'd never let go, and she threw the other one as hard as she could at him, which was now engaged in even more power than the initial toss, and would catch up to Shuya quite easily. If the kick did not in fact land, then she would simply return to her original assault until she needed to rest from exhaustion.

Regardless, when the dust was cleared or she'd caught her breath, she'd spit in the direction of her current opponent and rest one of the axes on her shoulder while she stood tall, as though that took nothing out of her, even if she had just caught her breath seconds prior.

Astrid was well-known among unseated Shinigami due to the perceived luck of her Zanpakutou. While most Shikai and Bankai had a wide variety of powers that formed a coherent 'kit' as the rumors worded it, Astrid had only a single ability.

"I can teleport to these suckers at will. That makes me the fastest Shinigami in the Gotei, even faster than that skinny rat who runs the Onmikitsudo in Division Two." She flared her reiatsu once again, taking a battle stance similar to before, as if challenging Shuya to prove his worth, as though she'd accomplished anything so far.

Shuya dodged each of the slashes, intentionally leaving less room than he would have otherwise just to make things interesting. She then kicked, as though he was a football, and Shuya gave her that one. She did kick kinda hard though, and he was tossed back, though he landed on his feet. He saw the axe fly toward him and he jumped upward, intending for it to sail harmlessly under him. Jumping put him in a tough spot, as he couldn't alter his momentum as easily as he did on the ground, but when she was suddenly there, he was intrigued.

If she were sober, perhaps she would have caught onto the fact that his eyes immediately locked onto her and he tapped her axe with his foot, jumping precisely off of it and landing further back.

Still having avoided using his sword, he waited. Though that zanpakuto ability did have some potential.

She bragged about how fast she was, and Shuya tilted his head as she went on about how she was technically the fastest in the Gotei. "Even faster than that skinny rat" -- meaning him. Well that was just rude.

"That's a nice gimmick. But... you seemed pretty slow to me." He said with a crooked grin. Egging her on, he would bait out another attack. If she did so, he would suddenly be behind her, as the result of a quick shunpo, after which he would say, "Is that all you have? Or can you go faster?"

The man cocked a grin and egged her on, but she merely gripped her axes tighter and debated on her next course of action. She didn't want to appear weak in front of the entire crowd, and while she didn't know who she was fighting she could at least recognize that she hadn't made them even break a sweat yet, despite the fact that she was definitely worked up already.

She went to throw her axe again, but before the weapon even left her hand he was behind her. Initially, she thought he teleported just like he did, and was confused as to how given that she hadn't heard a Shikai command or a Kidou incantation, but then her brain realized following the gust of wind left in his wake that the man had simply used Shunpo.

She was no slouch at Shunpo herself, but she hadn't seen any of the textbook buildup or rhythm-finding, which indicated to her that her opponent was a master of Hoho already. Shunpo, being an acceleration of the person's base speed, wasn't normally teleportation fast though... which was where her brain clicked as to who she was fighting.

She still didn't know his name, but based on sheer speed he was at least a Lieutenant, if not a Captain who wasn't wearing their Haori. She knew that fighting a Captain could get her in trouble, but since he wasn't wearing a Haori, it was far more likely that he was just a Lieutenant. Astrid swallowed the saliva that had built up in her mouth as she processed everything and turned around to face her opponent once more.

Using every last drop of spiritual energy she had, she augmented her speed as much as she could and unleashed another flurry of axe attacks, this time mixing in throws and teleportations with the regular swings, as well as kicks. She was truly trying to go all out and pull every trick in the book at least once in an attempt to hit this arrogant asshole who had called her a man.

Truthfully, it was the one weakness she had. Sure, her Spiritual Pressure wasn't very sharp all things considered, but she still had an average supply of Reiryoku and was both faster and stronger than most other Shinigami she ever came across. Being mistaken for Male, however, was something that only began happening after her death; it was the one downside to everything the Gotei had offered her. Her Viking brothers and sisters had never mistaken her for male, so why did everyone in Soul Society? It was a question she believed she'd never find an answer to, and thus spent no time pursuing, but bothered her nonetheless.

None of that was on her mind right now though. The only thought she has was to crush Shuya Kitakaze, as he had offended her and therefore had to pay the pennance. A Lieutenant not wearing their Badge could still get her in trouble, but it was far more likely than him being a Captain, and regardless seemed not to matter as she couldn't land a decisive blow on him.

Shuya looked back as she turned around. Her expression had changed from unbridled fury to that but with a hint of realization. She was getting it.

But it seemed she still had more of a tale to tell with her axes, and he felt her up the amount of energy she was using. She came at him with a flurry of blows, which doubtless looked impressive to onlookers, but even as she mixed in teleports and feints, Shuya could see it all.

It was like slow motion. A sweeping horizontal attack which he backstepped away from followed by a swing from below which he stepped around. He saw a kick come and stood back again, and watched her throw her axe toward him which he leaned to the right and dodged. She appeared behind him, swinging her axe backward to hit him and Shuya leaned forward to dodge that. Then she teleported once again to his flank with a low swing which forced him to jump. And finally, a kick to his center, which he blocked with an open hand, although he was still pushed off the ground due to this. The axe had been thrown already, and as he turned she appeared, swinging her axe once more. And finally, he blocked it with his sword, and she could feel the strength of his parry.

He would bat her axe away, fully aware that her weapon being away didn't mean it was out of play for her. But he realized he blocked the attack with his sword, and that made him smile a little bit. "That's a bit better." He remarked. "Not awful for an unseated Shinigami."

"Are you finished yet? Or will you continue?" He held his sword steady, now holding it with a firm grip. He would be fighting with it now, if this continued.

As a Viking, Astrid had known combat for damn near her entire lifespan. She was essentially born dual wielding axes, and was one of the more prominent fighters in her group. Defeat was rare but was known to her, usually indicative of her being too young and easily enraged. Astrid was well versed in how to maneuver her body in order to attack her foes most effectively in combat.

She weaved in Horizontal attacks, Vertical attacks, Diagonal attacks, thrusts, pommel bashes, every sort of attack she could think of and yet none of them seemed to matter. The boy she was wailing on was effortlessly stepping between her attacks, leaning this way or that way, blocking direct impacts and finally using his damn sword.

That was the part that made Astrid hesitate. It wasn't that she'd finally made him actually use his sword at all, or even that he'd not needed it so far in the fight, but when Astrid's axe collided with that sword, an image popped into her mind. The largest, thickest tree she had ever seen in her life, which stood over 500ft tall and over 100ft wide; that was the image which had popped into Astrid's mind upon colliding her axe with that sword. It wasn't even physical strength; it was skill, it was discipline, and it was effortless.

Despite her axe flying off in some random direction, and despite the fact that she could easily teleport to it to regain control of the weapon, she fell to her knees. In that moment, she realized that nothing she did was going to harm this boy. That she was for all intents and purposes completely useless right now. She wanted to keep fighting, to prove that she wasn't this helpless, but whoever this kid was they were entirely alien to her.

He looked young. Younger even than her. She now had an inkling of the amount of reiatsu he had, which just amplified her feelings of hopelessness. The axe in her hand began to glow with a white light before fading back into a wakizashi shape, which Astrid promptly sheathed. The other axe, wherever it had landed, was also gone by proxy.

She didn't know who he was. She didn't know where he came from. She didn't know when he'd graduated, what division he was from, what rank or seat he was, or anything else. All of this, simply because she thought he was cute and sat down next to him.

The woman stood up, sighing softly. She had her suspiscions as to who the boy really was, but she knew by now that he was definitely a Lieutenant at worst. Therefore, by proxy, it was his fault for not having his Badge on. A fact that Astrid would shortly make known.

"I apologize for my actions," she stated calmly while she bowed slightly, before returning upright and continuing, "I don't do well with being called a man. State your name and rank, and all will be forgiven." It was a long shot, but she knew that Lieutenants were supposed to wear their badge at all times and that Captains weren't supposed to take off their haori for this explicit reason. If he was a third seat, she was still fucked; but if he was a Lieutenant, or god forbid a Captain, she knew she wouldn't get in (at least as much) trouble because it was the boy's fault for not being properly symbolized.

Seeing that she'd finally seen reason and cooled off, Shuya had no further reason to fight and he sheathed his sword. Her change in mood was sudden, but he supposed that's what it should have been like as as it became clear that they were not at all evenly matched. While he was miffed somewhat that the sudden fight had occured, it had been a nice diversion, even if it had robbed him of his buzz.

"Ahh, damn it, I'm sobering up." Shuya sighed, rubbing his forehead. He needed to get back to the drinks after this, or at least have a good smoke. "Apology accepted. I am Shuya Kitakaze, Captain of the 2nd. Also known as 'that skinny rat who leads the Onmitsukido.'" He paused for a moment, seeing how she would react to that news. "Now, state your full name and rank." He asked, crossing his arms.

The man commented on sobering up, which Astrid could relate to because she had as well, and then introduced himself as Shuya Kitakaze; immediately, time slowed down for Astrid's subconscious. She'd heard that name before, but why? Why didn't that match any of the Lieutenants, who Astrid knew well? Was he brand new? No, it wouldn't be familiar. What division.... Second? Maybe. But the Lieutenant of the Second Division was Chihiro Senba, not Shuya Kitakaze. That was the name of their... Oh no. Her face began to change immediately, twisting into abject fear and terror, as she realized simultaneously upon his own speaking of the words, that he was the Captain of the Second Division.

"I can teleport to these suckers at will." She had thought. Her eyes widened further. "That makes me the fastest Shinigami in the Gotei," she had claimed, and maybe even in her drunken state had believed, it couldn't be sure; "...even faster than that skinny rat who runs the Onmikitsudo in Division Two."

Her face donned a look of horror as his words settled into her brain, and she realized the level of shit she was in and new and creative horrors popped into her head that she wished she hadn't thought of, before Shuya demanded her full name and rank, which caused her to immediately stiffen up, stand at attention with her arms at her side initially, and proceed to salute Shuya.

"Sir! My name is Astrid Brynhildr. I am an Unseated Shinigami within the Fifth Division." She chose to stop her words there, expecting that Shuya would already be well aware of the rest of the information. He would already know that Kenpachi Kishibe had been missing in action for nearly a thousand years now, and that the original Lieutenant, Wukong, had recently been replaced by Okami Shiba as a recent order. He may or may not have also heard the recent rumors about their supposed "New Captain", as Kenpachi Kishibe was being presumed dead after a thousand years.

Shuya Kitakaze was young, though. She didn't want to offend him with him "presuming he was unaware" of what she already knew, as he was a Captain and she was a rank and file unseated member. She could explain further when told to, or she could shut up and stay standing at attention until told she was 'at ease', or to stand down, or anything else to happen, otherwise she'd keep sucking in her gut and standing at full attention for as long as she could.

She wouldn't speak again unless spoken to out of fear and respect, not knowing what else to say to a legitimate Captain. She had flashbacks to previous times she'd insulted the man back when he was a Lieutenant and even before that when he was Unseated. She'd never actually met him before now, but she had heard of him and had no idea how powerful he truly was.

Astrid gulped. She knew inherently that she was boned. There was no talking her way out of this. Whatever he said as punishment was going to come true because she currently had no real Captain to back her up, which meant ANY Captain could outrank Lieutenant Shiba, and declare any punishment "official" and make her do it, regardless of what it was.

Apologizing again was pointless. She'd already apologized once. Why insult him by apologizing a second time? She was already walking on frozen eggshells, and didn't want to risk further incitations of his anger. She already knew from the previous minute of her life that she couldn't harm Shuya even in her wildest dreams, and that he apparently had every right to be a Captain. She was terrified of the penalties she would receive and the fact that she couldn't even cause him to break a sweat with everything she had.

Was she really so weak? Well, he was a Catapin. Even if he was younger than her, it was irrelevant; Captains were that way for a reason. They always had enough power to spare, and if she had known, if Shuya had worn his Haori, she wouldn't have acted so arrogant; she wouldn't have even called him Cute to begin with. Wait a damn second.... why was Shuya in a random bar without his Haori?

Shuya sighed and shook his head as she went stiff as a board. Clearly -- she had no idea who he was or she wouldn't have said anything about it. And to be honest, he came here to escape all the rigor and formality of daily life in his job. The last thing he wanted to do was bring it here, when he just wanted to drink and not think about anything. He took a moment to think about her and her position.

Astrid Brynhildr, unseated in the Fifth. That division had a bit of a reputation for being a bit trigger happy with violence, and it seemed that Astrid was quite happy to perpetuate that stereotype, at least when inebriated. However, the Fifth was in a bit of a weird position, as the captaincy was vacant, almost by tradition at this point it felt like. The vice captain of that division certainly had a lot of work on his hands, and it didn't help that he was outranked by the most senior member of every other division. That made certain issues regarding discipline rather sticky, and in Shuya's eyes, had led to some built-up resentment incurred durning a certain someone's tenure as Captain Commander. (He wouldn't be naming any names.)

Perhaps it would instill something worse to be lenient, but truthfully, Shuya couldn't be bothered to go through the rigamarole of requesting formal discipline right now. So...

"At ease." He relented. "Look. Your apology is accepted. I didn't come here to do Captain shit right now so consider this a warning. I suppose I owe you that much anyway for... uh, making assumptions about your gender."

At least collateral damage was kept to a minimum.

"If you have any questions, speak freely." He shrugged.

Astrid stayed at attention, her arms simultaneously at her side and saluting Shuya, sweat comically pouring down her brow as she gulped again, nervously staring at Shuya as hs sighed, seemingly considering Astrid and what had happened. Finally, he told her to be at ease, and she finally exhaled and slumped over slightly, one hand on her back and the other limp. Shuya accepted her apology and gave one of his own, before asking if she had any questions and to speak freely.

Initially, Astrid had a few thoughts cross her mind. She had been told to speak freely to another Captain, and in different circumstances would probably bring up the lack of authority in her Division, but she also didn't exactly WANT to have a Captain, because it meant she could essentially get away with "nearly" everything. She sighed softly, shaking her head to imply that she had no further questions, and saluted Shuya one final time.

Their crowd had settled by now, as everyone was excited to watch the drunken brawl but was trying to make themselves seem small and insignificant when Shuya announced his position and role in the roster. Though Astrid couldn't be sure, she wondered if anyone would actually talk to Shuya for the rest of the night, or if their behavior had cut him off from access to that particular bar since people now knew who he was.

She felt guilty, and a pain occurred in her stomach. He'd just been trying to enjoy his night off, and she'd managed to make him act in an official manner, sober up, and quite possibly got him to never visit that bar again. She knew it was unlikely that the bar would prevent him from returning, but she also knew that Captains seemed to like minding their own business when not on duty, and now all the patrons of this particular bar knew who Shuya was and it was just a situation Astrid wasn't enjoying. She hadn't intended to make his night be awful.

She sat back down at the bar, slammed her head into the counter, wrapped her arms around her head, and sighed deeply. The bartender, who was very aware of both the situation and Astrid's personality, silently placed a mug in front of her, and had a slightly worried look on his face when Astrid didn't immediately chug it.

Shuya watched her skulk back to the bar, and figuring that nothing more needed to be said, he didn't follow her. As far as he was concerned, this situation was resolved, and what she thought of him was up to her. Truthfully, he wasn't all that concerned about what others thought about him behind his back -- it was hardly something he could control after all. The only thing that informed him of was his failures as a leader. But to those other squads that he didn't lead, what did it matter anyway? As long as no one challenged leadership by making the faux pas of making one's feeling plain then the thoughtcrime was hardly that, and attempting to control it would be like attempting to divert the course of a river. It couldn't be accomplished with merely one's hands.

So he stepped out of the bar. Still disappointingly sober, a cigarette would have to suffice tonight.

[--thread exit--]