Blood in the Water (Tina)

Akane had been called to the Captain Commander's office. So soon into her tenure as the Captain of the Fifth too, which was never a good sign. There were a few potential causes; her men might have done something stupid, and this was her hope. That was easiest to fix. The second would be something she had done, but Akane could think of no incident that would require a response like this. Which left the last potential problem lingering in the wings. The old Kenpachi's return. Sano had provided a warning, though what she was going to do with that information had yet to be seen. Her training was unfinished as far as she was concerned, there was still a gap that she needed to overcome.

She took a breah as she strode through the First Division HQ toward Tina's office, where she would knock and then enter. Offering a bow out the gate, hopefully she could start with a buffer before the yelling started. "Good afternoon Soutaicho. You wished to see me?" Akane stepped forward and stood before the woman's desk, waiting patientily to be addressed while the potential outcomes to this meeting just swirling around in her head.

Tina was in her chair behind her desk as per normal when Akane knocked and was bade enter, which she did. She stepped towards the desk which worked out for Tina because the next thing Tina did was pull out a Haori for the Fifth Division and toss it at Akane. Who she fully expected to catch it but would probably just find it funny if it got dropped. Either way at the resolution of such.

"I'm merely trying to finish the formalities, "Captain" Makishima, and present you thus with the Captain's Haori as you have officially settled into your position and have needed one of those freshly made since we never did figure out what happened to your predecessor." Tina was very curious what had happened to the supposed previous Kenpachi, a man by the name of Yamamoto Kishibe, who had disappeared in a time that predated Tina herself. Apparently he had ventured into Hueco Mundo of his own volition, and simply had yet to return. All Tina truly cared about though was that Central 46 had recently ordered the case closed and considered him to be declared dead.

As a result, the Fifth Division had been without leadership for quite some time. It was something that truly irritated her while she was Captain of the Seventh Division, as they always had an excuse for their behavior, and never had anyone to truly answer to or reign them in. Which meant it was always Tina's responsibility to deal with them, and as such when she became Captain Commander one of the first things she had tried to do was finally bring leadership to the Fifth Division.

After declaring the Kenpachi Kishibe situation a closed case, Akane Makishima had been appointed instead. Though Tina could never be sure of the details, she was fairly sure that Sano Mazi and Mizuki de Grey were involved in puling strings to make sure that Akane was chosen. She was by far the youngest Captain the Gotei had ever produced, even younger than Tina herself. She wasn't entirely convinced Mizuki actually cared but that didn't mean she was without a finger in the jar.

Either way her attention remained on Akane, "As far as your general duties, I'm sorry to say that as of current we aren't exactly expecting anything of massive scale. So until something happens I would suggest just getting to know your division more and to keep them training and busy rather than starting random street brawls. If you don't mind. The 8th division or the 7th Division would warn your division of anything they discovered that required the might and talents of the Fifth so you won't have to worry about not being in the loop."

Akane caught the Haori without much fuss, maybe there had been a point she would have fumbled but those days were long past. There was a reason she had been offered this position after all, beyond the simple need for keeping the Fifth in check at least. She nodded, finding it odd that her predecessor was coming up again. “Actually, I had something to ask regarding Yamamoto Kishibe… If I’m to believe Sano Mazi there have been whispers about him. What are my orders should this prove true?” At this point Akane couldn’t be certain either way, she hadn’t seen this evidence herself and for now wasn’t sure if this was her old Captain’s way of trying to keep her on guard, or maybe just mess with her.

Akane listened on to Tina’s explanation of her duties and the general state of things. “Sounds simple enough, I’ve already started their new training regimin. We should have some well sharpened blades before long Soutaicho.”

So far there was little to report back on that front, what she had was a squad of uncontrolled ruffians who loved a good scrap but there was little else to them. She needed warriors though, not berserkers. Time would tell if she could pull something like that off, but for the moment the young Captain seemed confident.

Tina was almost, but not visibly, disappointed that it didn't get dropped, but that just meant Akane Makishima had grown quite a bit in recent times since she might have dropped it in the past. Internal joke aside Akane asked about the "rumor" she heard Sano Mazi talk about regarding the old Kenpachi, Admittedly, Tina was still settling in as Captain Commander herself and as such she's been purposefully reading up on history and anything else she can get her hands on without constantly pestering Central 46, trying to fill in the gaps in her own knowledge so to speak since most of her general knowledge actually didn't have anything to do with Soul Society, and it was only last night before Tina had finally come across the name Yamamoto Kishibe. or was that last week? She couldn't really remember "when" only that she had and it was recently fresh in her mind. Apparently, Central 46 had ordered him into Hueco Mundo. That was essentially where recorded information about Yamamoto Kishibe stopped, since no official records of him exist after he left Seireitei. This entire time, Fifth Division had been managing just fine in his absence, including the times in which Tina herself had watched over the Division to help them and handle both paperwork and reprimands. They just... didn't have purpose or direction for their boundless energy. While was good for morale it was poor for civil situations. They weren't being bad they were just bored.

Frankly, Tina didn't know what to say in regards to Akane's question, She was curious what "rumors" Sano seemed to have about Yamamoto, and more importantly why she was discovering this information from Akane rather than Sano himself, but that was a question for later and something she almost didn't rightly care about, she came up with the answer anyways a second later, "I intend to give you the same thing I'd be telling the old captain were he to grace us with his present. The title of Kenpachi has always been in the hands of the strongest. If you truly desire to lead as Kenpachi of the Fifth Division and maintain the respect of your subordinates then we both know you are fully aware this means defending your position against him if he shows up. We do not prevent this despite it's... unpleasantness. It is the core of what it means to be Kenpachi. The proverbial spear of Gotei."

Akane promised to whip the current generation into top shape and seemed pretty sure of herself even if her subordinates were simply well trained thugs at the moment. That was rather reassuring for Tina considering that would mean more precise effectiveness for the whole division.

Akane nodded at this explanation, coming to some sort of resolution in her mind. “Understood. If he does show up, I’ll suppose I'll be earning my title for real.” She seemed steadfast in this declaration at least, so the news of such a powerful claimant to her position didn’t bother her that much. She had to focus on getting stronger. Akane wasn’t close to claiming the title of ‘the strongest’. Sano had proven himself an immovable obstacle for the time being, and this Kishibe was going to be yet another obstacle.

“I’ve been working hard with the rest of the squad in the meantime, I don’t know when they’ll really be ready for actual combat.” She crossed her arms, “Right now we’re at learning ‘how to follow orders’. Most of them are pretty quick studies.” Akane adds with a hint of pride to her tone. Her time in the living world had been spent in the midst the deadliest conflict in human history, seeing worthy soldiers form before her eyes was something she strived for.

She went ahead and put on the new haori and adjusted it to her comfort. ‘Kenpachi’ Makishima at least looked the part now. “Was that all Soutaicho?” Akane had no further questions, and if this was only a formality then they had finished with that.

Akane left Tina to bring up any lingering topics of discussion.