Seat before the demon [ Tento | Kanae ]

Tento sat rigidly in the quiet confines of his office. Freshly cleaned in an act to try and clear the cloudy bits of a built up of day to day activities much like his mind. The tenth seat sighed in the warmth of his chair. His fingers drummed a staccato rhythm on the armrest. The air was thick with the scent of scented candies and the undercurrent of adrenaline that always seemed to linger in these walls.He really should start opening the window when he decided to do a midday workout to keep from falling asleep under the weight of paperwork. Today, he had received a request, by all strengths rather, a summons to meet with his 4th Division Captain Kanae Nagoshi, a woman whose reputation and history preceded him like a far distant star that one could barely believe was stretching far into the massive night sky.

Kanae was a infamous legend before, but at this mark in the current version of the Gotei United, the military force of the Gotei as well as the 4th division had the honor rather than a privilege of having such a powerful warrior and respectable Captain. As much as Kanae could be seen as an ‘unorthodox’ Shinigami from a begone time of war, death, and uncertainty in a well of turmoil. She was a warrior of high ability and effectiveness in the duty of killing hollows and thus purifying souls. Strict and disciple was her way of leadership and her ‘aura’ on the battlefield had transformed many due to how they followed her. Yet she was for the most part, a distant and cold woman for what Tento could make out. That, was not a bad thing. She did not have to be bubbly and motherly. Or anything of the sort, but, he could not think of any business he would have with her that would require her to summon him to her office. Which meant…

He was in some trouble due to failing in the last mission in the world of the living in Africa? With a bit of dread he had to get it done with. Her office was at the end of a long corridor if he remembered right. Think of it, this was the first time he would be in her office. Or any Captain’s office to think about it. With each step, his heart thrummed louder as anticipation and adrenaline began to build, echoing the drumbeat of his impending confrontation. He had worked tireselly since joining the division, his determination to live up to the expectations of Hanako was critical, and yet he messed up. Falling in a bit of emotions and fatique, he underestimated the power that his inner hollow had grown to. Failing to keep complete control upon using his hollow mask. He was frozen and needed to be rescued…a liability that caused them to retreat. Their sector falling to the hollows but thankfully a lack of deaths in comparision to others due to Tento and Kaminari’s effort.

But still, he would imagine Captain Kanae was a results type of women given she was part of the 1st generation of the Gotei 13. Losing to Arrancars. Failing to secure souls and clean. Losing in battle. Marks and more marks against the 4th division and Shinigami as a whole. In the aftermath he sulked while treating the scars to his unseated officers. Training them harder as he expected the other seated officers would do. He had worked tireselly for himself too, to not let that failure against his hollow to transpire again. Extra duty. Joint tasks. He even managed to solve minor paperwokr issues that left others baffled. Tiring and draining. But nothing in comparison as the icy chill that ran down his spine as he approached Kanae’s door. It was a habit of herself to be available at this time, the evening time was her soluitude in her office. The door loomed before him, heavy and imposing in contrast to its size. And as he raised his hand to know he steeled himself for the encounter. This was a moment of reckoning he supposed, for all actions did have consequences.

"Captain Kanae. May I enter Ma'am?".

Were all Shinigami so disgustingly informal, so personal, these days? "Captain Nagoshi." corrected Kanae as her voice made its way through her office's door and to Tento waiting outside. The disrespect irked her. While she wasn't some formality-obsessed noble, Kanae didn't want these infants speaking to her as if they were friends or even friendly.

"Enter." she answered.

Upon Tento entering her office, a simple, unadorned room without a personal effect in sight, Kanae issued a stern command "Sit, Fourth Seat Tento Zefa." without bothering to gesture to the chair across from her on the other side of her plain wooden desk. In front of him on the desk would be a manila folder filled with a few documents tucked inside. As Kanae spoke her cold stare bore holes into Tento "You are here to explain the contents of your battlefield report. Start from the beginning." There was little emotion in her tone, and the expression on her face remained unreadable, giving Tento little insight into his Captain's thoughts.

       

Semiprofessional. That was at times what the laidback goofy giant of a man slipped into when talking to people he was somewhat familiar with. Of course he dropped the titles when out of job duties, whenever that miracle of a time was. But he, tried at least, to be as formal as he could when doing important work. He did not enter her office, but he WAS talking to his Captain. That slip up caused a sharp correction to hit his ears as he heard her emphasis. Internally he kicked himself before entering.

“Thank you Captain Nagoshi”, Tento said as he entered. His large frame consumed the room’s walkway as he stood with his hands behind his back. He stayed in a still position as he waited for her to finish speaking. Without moving his head and eyes on her fixed position, he tried to take a zoomed out view of her room. It could be said that the offices of Captains told their officers about them. If there were rewards, if there were weapons, if there were pictures. Items that could be deciphered about the deeper wells of their leader’s soul. However, for Captain Kanae, it seemed she had no soul. Or rather a plain soul or really she wanted to be hidden from her underlings. No pictures, no motivational texts. Not even a weapon. It was naked. It was plain, it was impersonal. As if it could be anyone’s office.

Nevertheless, with what was spoken Tento gave several blinks in response. "Ummmm. Fourth seat Captain? I…ah, am the 10th seat. ...right??”. Tento said in a nervous voice before quickly correcting himself. No, he doubted she would make a mistake of thinking his rank or name to someone else's face. It could only mean one thing. "Forgive my ignorance Captain Nagoshi", Tento said speaking in a stronger voice filled with pride and confidence. A low bow coming in gratitude. It had not been that too long, and yet she was giving him another promotion? Did he truly deserve this or was this out of need? The sudden formality was not out of what he expected getting this meeting order. Tento had begun to wonder if he was falling short and a disgrace to his seating as a member of the 4th. He thought he was doing okay but... people died under his command. People weren't strong enough, HE, was not strong enough. And the Gotei suffered as a result.


“Ah, yes Captain. The report”, Tento said, coming out of his pause of confusion in his mind. Moving to sit down in the seat from across her desk. His hands went to his lap as he sat, using one hand to remove his blade from his hip to rest at the side of his chair. It was hard to say what exactly she wanted to go over verbally that was not good enough on paper. He would just have to go over from the top. His eyes, steady and unwavering, met those of Captain Nagoshi’s cold stare. “If you are referring to the latest report. Then it was involved in my last deportment around the hole. This dealing was with a hollow, a floating eye which had a higher level of physical defense due to its shell. Due to fighting alongside Ranma of the 8th division. The hollow was able to be defeated without that much of an issue”.

Her face was emotionless. It was quite frankly as if he was talking to a machine. “I arrived to the area outside of the hole’s perimeter a few days prior. During the time it was mostly just patrols and light training to keep our division member’s senses sharp. Then suddenly there was a mass shake of spiritual pressure felt as this hollow came from outside of the hole. Before starting to destroy the already damaged landscape with ceros”. Tento said giving a pause in his breakdown, waiting to see if there were any details he had given that his Captain would want more on before giving more information.

Did he genuinely believe she misspoke? Weren't children usually more excited about shiny promotions dangled in front of them? Kanae hand waved his confusion "If you are confused, wait for clarification. Before that, do as you are told and explain your report." Having little patience for, well, anything, Kanae pushed her subordinate to continue.

Listening in silence, Kanae found herself bored already by Tento's recounting of events. Perhaps he didn't understand the different possible reasons for why he would be asked to discuss a mission report with his Captain, but Kanae wasn't concerned with his powers of deduction. They would get to the point eventually, and to speed things along Kanae spoke a single definitive word.

"Continue."

       

It was a quick mistake that was honestly unexpected. With how Kanae did things so far since she became Captain of the 4th division, he had always foreseen a formal interaction with her, especially with anything related to the organization such as a promotion. Similar to last time. To have her do it this way was quite the shocker to her squad member. Perhaps she was trying to be uncharacteristically funny or spontaneous. But that was not something to spend his time thinking that much about right now.

With a wave of her hand and verbal request, eh, order, to continue. Tento’s body aligned further in an upright yet relaxed firmness. His voice uptiking into a normal volume clear to his Captain's ears as he continued to speak.

“I took the lead on passing the hollow. Allowing Ranma to chip it down while we discovered its abilities. This went on for a few interactions. Some injuries suffered on both of us from it. Documentation of course completed with the worst pieces being the two ceros I braced", Tento gace a short pause before continuing. A fraction of a second which was much more of a second break in a sentence than stoppage really.

"Upon having intel, our shikais were used to take advantage of the hollows's advantages and disadvantages. In the end soon after we corned and restricted the hollow before Ranma cleansed it when i restrained the hollow. After which we separated and I continued patrolling the hole aiding in cleansing several more hollows”.

Now. Kanae could have gotten all of that from the paperwork and reports. And she likely did already, with how she gace as an aura he doubted she wanted him to come in to chat and just see him. Promotion or not. What was her motive? Did she want to see if he would brag and take more of the credit? See if he was consistent in his report? Did she feel he left something out, that there was an irregularity? Tento... didn't think he forgot anything.