TWO WEEKS EARLIER
One by one, the remaining summons had entered the meeting hall, and Yasu idly gazed over towards the open doors where Omoni Hageshī came barreling in, barefooted and bloodied, and to say that she wasn’t surprised was the truth. The gargantuan woman was a monster, and in the last few hours since gaining captaincy, she had made a spectacle of herself in her own squad and momentarily in the Fourth Division. Speaking of the Fourth Division — Yū Nakamoto had graced the room with his presence, stuttering as he greeted the commander and cast his glances over to his former lieutenant and uttered words between them before he took his place across from her besides Kyomu, and Omoni came to stand at her left side.
All of the captains were here — all but one. She looks towards the doors again as they open, her brows raised at the chance of seeing the ever elusive Captain Asakura show his face at a meeting, only to find his lieutenant and her own standing at the entrance. Atsuko Ise drops down to one knee, while Shusuke idly lights a cigar that he pulls out of god knows where. Seeing that, Yasu narrows her eyes and feels the muscles in her arm tensing as he just continues idly walking in to take a position behind her without a single care. A final entry comes, Shizuka Hyouzoku, the one who took Fuyuko’s helm after she was promoted, drops to one knee and offers his respect to the Commander.
She closes her eyes, holding her breath to keep from inhaling that putrid scent that this idiot had caused to waft in the air. Not only did he decide to smoke and enter the Captain’s Hall, especially unsummoned, but completely disregarded greeting his superiors appropriately, making a complete and absolute fool out of his captain that stands with her back to him. Yasu slowly turns to face him, a glare capable of freezing over the plane of Hell and back is attuned to Shusuke and she grabs his hand, cigar crumbling under her grip as it burns into her flesh and begins applying the worst kind of pressure, a violent wrath that would cause him to drop to his knees in an instant. She wouldn’t dare let go, keeping him in her grasp, even if the cigar burned into her skin or dropped to the floor after his surprise, so long as it would go out and stop its toxic spread, she would be content with that at least... Even if he had begged her to let go, Yasu’s attention would solely be on the Commander, her eyes cast down, but focused all the same. If Shusuke had made any movement to wrestle out of her grip, he’d find no luck with her iron grasp and monstrous strength that was so close and tested on the daily by the likes of the Commander. He would stay just like that until they were dismissed.
Atsuko gives her news regarding the events that resulted in discovering the corpse of Itsuki Asakura. Yasu tilts her head at the news and while she was more surprised at the fact that his body was discovered in the first place, the death of the Captain could have been made in circumstances like Maho’s all those years ago, so she wasn’t particularly startled. His body had already been taken to Fourth, but with Yuna here, he clearly passed it to his underlings to handle.
“Careful young Shusuke, the last man to smoke in this hall did not make it back to his barracks. The woman responsible happens to only be mere feet from you.”
“Please forgive his foolishness, Commander.”
Katsuo gives the crowd a piece of his mind, but in truth, his grievances fall on deaf ears. He seems to be taking it hard after having been stripped of his noble name, but Yasu feels nothing, not because she is unsympathetic, but because what he complained of was nothing at all. She was a rukongai rat, a resident of one of the farthest regions of the western rukongai, Sabitsura. She was rather unlucky with her spirit ticket, but she had made the best of a bad situation, and rose up the ranks with her physical prowess and skills she gained under the Phantom’s tutelage up until she got to where she was now: a captain of the Gotei Thirteen. Yasu was beaten down, bullied by her older peers for simply being different. She had her family, albeit small, but even she knew that familial matters were not to get involved in her work. This was where Honoka had made a mistake, and Katsuo thinks that the entirety of this situation was simply a mother trying to protect her child? The boy was foolish as he continued on, thinking that he could plead his case further. If anything, he could’ve just kept his mouth shut and accepted the terms, but the heart of a white knight would never go unheard, much to her chagrin.
But what could she say, when the one that had all the power in this room was the man sitting on his horned-throne? He quickly silences the blabbering baby who sounded like he was choking on his own tears, grilling into him and quickly putting him in his place. After doing so, the commander’s attention falls onto the main event as he finally addresses Honoka Oki. He calls on their former relationship and his leniency, and what exactly he expects of her… And he offers to spare her life and in return, she prepares the coming waves of shinigami for the rest of her life, or face death instead. Yasu does not know what has happened, nor what she will choose, but she can only hope that such a shinigami would not go to waste.
One by one, he assigns those he has summoned with their respective tasks, and she honestly tunes out, her grip still tight, however, on her lieutenant’s hand. It isn’t until he mentions the Central 46 that Yasu tunes in again, and she can only recall the grueling training for the past one-hundred years to show that she and the other two Vizards were worth keeping alive to fight for the good of the Seireitei. The number of captains have dwindled once more with the death of Itsuki Asakura, and things have been rather rocky. The commander speaks of bolstering their forces and she wonders just where he is leading up to.
“There will be a tournament. A tournament to identify the strongest in our ranks; no, not just in our ranks, the strongest in all of Soul Society. Let us cast our net far and wide, and utilize every resource we have to find warriors for our war, and to eliminate the weak.”
“Captain Yūgure--”
Hearing her name causes her head to snap up and she stands at attention as her commander addresses her on the subject.
“--you will host this tournament, using Ninth division and its resources to broadcast the coverage while also spreading the word to gather participants in the meantime. We have to have coverage in a multitude of districts and spread arenas throughout Soul Society to create the best viewing experience. I leave this solely up to you.”
“Yes, Sir.”
He also assigns her to work with Yū Nakamoto regarding relief locations for necessary resuscitation and medical extremities. She looks over at the blond and feels a twinge of annoyance. Yasu chews on her bottom lip as she weighs her choices. Stuck in her head, she only manages to catch the bit where her participation is not mandatory unlike her peers. There is a glance down at the empty sleeve on her left and she exhales. The Commander gives his orders, and his time-limit...
Two weeks until the Kenpachi Games.
After the conclusion of the meeting, Yasu waits on Tenzen so that they would both go to Fifth’s barracks to retrieve the little prisoner they received out of the Senkaimon. Shusuke would hopefully be tagging along in silence. She would wait until they were in the comfort of their own barracks to let loose. Things, one right after the other, had kept piling up and onto her plate and she was out of options. Along the way, she had checked on those last notifications that were on her phone before she was pulled away from it. A sigh came as all the answers of that day’s meetings were right there in the palm of her hand.
Eventually they’d gotten to Fifth’s holding cells, and she came to find that Jatiri was there, but was unsure as to why he hadn’t retrieved their little gift yet. No matter, she was here, and that was all the clearance that they needed. Into the cell she went, the left sleeve of her shihakusho moving around as her zanpakuto comes to form an inky tendril that takes the shape of an arm as she catches the surprised Jirōshizo by his face and listens to just how meekly he calls out her name in surprise through those squished lips.
She contemplated getting rid of him then and there, but the commander said that there was a necessity to shinigami as their forces had just lost a captain. While the boy in front of her was no captain, he could still be of some use, one of many cogs in this machine to keep it going. She thanked the Buddhist Monk and left for her own Division in the Northeast quadrant. She calls back for Kazumi to come back from the Rukongai, and from Otsukai’s report, he’d sent her out there and she’d witnessed firsthand a part of the arrest of Lieutenant Toshiyuki and his subordinate. Yasu calls a meeting for the Ninth Division and she takes her place before all of them with a rather annoyed look on her face. The joints in her right hand pop as she prepares them with the knowledge of the incoming games and their functions to be performed.
“Listen up, because I’m only going to say this once. The Captain-Commander has issued out a Soul Society-wide tournament under the name of the Kenpachi Games. I am sure that you all correlate the title of Kenpachi to members -- or to be more specific, captains of the Eleventh Division. Such is not the case any more, so here’s the deal,”
The Ninth Division holds her hand out and Otsukai brings over the list of shinigami she possessed in her stronghold: well over two hundred members, so splitting them up would be no problem.
“I want the Shinigami of the Publishing department to use the Seireitei Communication Column to spread the word on the Kenpachi Games. They will be open to Rukongai denizens and even prisoners of the Maggot’s Nest, so I want the patrol teams to spread the word through all three-hundred and twenty districts over the course of the next two weeks and set up stations for broadcasting in sections of the Rukongai and around the four quadrants.”
Her gaze hardens.
“You all are capable shinigami, and I won’t stop you if you decide to participate, but listen very closely: there are no rules, there will be no restraint, and there are no limitations. Death is very real, and this tournament is to determine the strongest shinigami in all of Soul Society. Do not participate if you think this is just for fun; this is a serious matter, and I will kill you myself if you’re fucking around.”
“Everyone other than Lieutenant Kiyoshi, Third Seat Fujioka, Fourth Seat Yabuki, and Jirōshizo Raikyū can go. Get the ball rolling immediately.”
Yasu watches as the masses scramble around to do as they were ordered and her gaze falls onto the four shinigami that stood before her in a line. She narrows her gaze and begins assigning the four shinigami in front of her their sections. Acting as overseers, these four would ultimately be the top of their units, and if they failed, she would be the one getting the punishment.
“You three are respectively my most reliable shinigami that I possess, and while you quite literally just got back, I’m putting you to work as your punishment for these past one hundred years immediately, and will be reinstated as my fifth seat.”
She gestures at both Jirōshizo and Jatiri.
“Because I know you two are familiar with one another, I’m going to have you two work together to set up the broadcasting systems in the Rukongai with the patrol team. I’ll be asking the Twelfth Division for equipment, so if you see a bug-eyed hunchback roaming around, be nice. I want three in each cardinal direction, in the upper, middle, and lower districts so everyone can have eyes on the games.”
Her attention turns to Kazumi.
“I want you with the publishing department and working on the SCC. When the Games begin, you’ll be working with interviews on those who fail to make it past the preliminary match-ups, if they happen to be alive; that order goes to you two as well. I want to know everything. You’ll also be working to greet and gather the participants' information for me to use during the introductions at the start: name, ranks, date of birth, height, and something they like if you can. Dismissed.”
All who would be left was her lieutenant and all Yasu can feel is her anger beginning to spill from her person as she looked at the person before her. Perhaps it was her being gone most times over the past century that had made him so careless in how he held himself towards the public eye. She takes a closer look towards his naked right bicep and the lack of his badge only causes her to grow even more weary. From the messages and reports given from Genmaru, Uzu, and Otsukai, rather than performing his duties, he took this time to go and pay a visit to his former division for some "cops and robbers'' play with them and then got involved with the Eleventh Division nonetheless.
“It seems as though my absence has caused you to forget exactly how to act in my stead. You entered the Captain's Hall without a summon and made no effort to pay your respects to the Captain-Commander, much less me, and proceeded to smoke as if you were lounging around in your lodgings!” She tears right into him from the start. Yasu, the troublemaker, has snapped and doubled-down, seeing red as she continues her tirade.
“I should have snapped your fucking arm for disrespecting me in front of the other Captains, and the Commander no less. If I was not before you, would you be so brazen to act in such a way, Shusuke? You think because of our history I'll allow you to act as outlandish as that without consequence?”
The more she goes on, the denser her reiatsu begins to seep out and fill the room in quick succession, properly leaving the male to suffocate in the overwhelming power that would break him down and cripple him physically and mentally. She closes the distance between them in an instant and forces him to kneel down before her. Yasu stood above him, glowering down at him with glowing amethyst orbs burning holes into his face as she kept her gaze on him, the silence causing him misery with every second passed. She could very well just get rid of this headache right then and there... And then she exhaled through her nose, long and drawn out as she stood up and halted her pour of reiatsu until it stopped. She'd finally lifted him from his short, but effective punishment hopefully. Yasu's reiatsu was capable of effectively crippling anyone she saw fit to punish.
“I don't care what you do, but you need to get it through your head that you are the Lieutenant of the Ninth Division. You have a duty to your division and represent me as my second-in-command. Your little play dates with your former division need to be cut off until you get it through your skull on where your duties lie. If you don't think that you can continue to perform on the level that I need you to be, find your badge, put it on my desk, and I'll accept your resignation back to the Sixth Division.”
She adjusts the compression shirt around her neck and exhales.
“This will be my only warning. Clean yourself up, and get to work with Fujioka. I'm headed to the medical unit for personal business and to work with Captain Nakamoto regarding the relief stations. Once the games begin you'll be working the betting pool for funding with each participant.”
Yasu leaves him to his own thoughts as she leaves the Ninth and heads to the Fourth to meet with Yuna for things other than the contents of the games.
“Yuna!”
She calls out for him, probably disturbing him even after the events of the meeting. That was how she was, so at least it was something he could expect. Without looking up at her he'd asked why she'd come when clearly Higen had given them their orders. But it was necessary. While he had said that it wasn't mandatory for her to participate, she would but no one would have any idea other that possibly the one who was about to return something he'd taken from her.
"You want it back?"
“Yes. I'm serious.”
"Of all the times..."
She hears him sigh and the squeak of his chair as he leans back, pinching the bridge of his nose and contemplating the decision. However, she wouldn't leave until she got what she came for, and he would give in to her. He could only say no however, many times, but even then, it was the least that he owed her. A bit of back and forth here and there, her annoying ways had finally managed to get him to deal with her as soon as possible.
"Fine... Fine. As long as it gets you out of my barracks and out of my hair, I'll do it."
“Thank you, Yuna, but we have two weeks together more or less. I'll need your cooperation on relief stations and positions. Not sure who you plan on manning them, but just make sure that they're capable. You heard the Commander. It's gonna be a bloodbath.”
Both of them are quiet and she doesn’t necessarily like crazy violence, but delving into it every now and then was a stress reliever. Perhaps these games would snap everyone into place and make them realize just how serious the matter was. She wondered exactly who else would decide to participate, from the Rukongai to the cells of the Nest, the games were open to all.
Just who would be the one to claim the title of Kenpachi?
PRESENT DAY
“Is everything ready to go?”
There is a chorus of people nodding and murmuring in agreement into her question as the day had finally come. Today was going to be the event of all times. The first Kenpachi Games would be going down in history with all of it’s contestants coming from every walk of life, criminal or noble, to face each other in order to claim the title of the strongest soul in all of Soul Society: Kenpachi.
Yasu Yūgure was the announcer for the event and by the Gods she would play her part. She hears the countdown in the background and hears the excitement begin to grow. The mention of the SCC had sold out nearly immediately. Her shinigami in the Rukongai had done their jobs and with the assistance of the Twelfth Division, the matches would be capable of being recorded and streamed for all to watch in both the Seireitei and the Rukongai. Everything would be televised live and in high-definition at that so the bloodshed would just be that more gruesome. The definite participants would make it clear that anyone was willing to try, but their success rate would be little to none successful unless they could prove the masses wrong.
“We’re live in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”
Oh yeah, she was
made for this.
“The Kenpachi Games have arrived!”
Across all televisions and denreishiki screens, Yasu was in the center of the camera with her arms spread wide and cackling rather madly after her shriek of absolute glee at the mention of the event of the century finally beginning. The roars of the crowd were heard throughout the Northern Rukongai and she swore she could feel the walls quaking as she stood at the top of the Northern Gate. All eyes were on her and she basked in the moment, waiting for the initial cheering to die down before she grabbed the microphone and addressed all viewers. There was a hefty crowd right before her, cheering and screaming her name and she held her hand up to calm them.
“The moment that you all have been waiting for has finally come to fruition. The Kenpachi Games are underway and I know all of you are just dying to know who will capture that title above all else! I want to hear your scream, I want to feel the ground under my feet shake, I wanna feel the chill of your excitement running down my spine!”
She holds her microphone out towards the crowd and it catches the voluminous cheer of the crowd that gathered right at her feet. All eyes on her, Yasu began to disclose the contents of the games discussed regarding participation and rules — not that there are any but it kept the people going.
“Eyes on me, eyes on the screen, and keep your ears open. The Games will not be limited to Shinigami only as both Rukongai citizens and those imprisoned in the Maggot’s Nest will have their chance at a new life, that is if they can prove they deserve it. The title of Kenpachi is not for the faint of heart. To he Kenpachi, one is essentially claiming dominion of the title as the Strongest Soul, the Strongest Shinigami of the Gotei Thirteen.”
She could hear the confusion as even with the prior announcements, people still remembered that only the Captain of the Eleventh Division would be able to bear the title of Kenpachi.
“Times are different people, but that’s what makes it fun don’t you think? Imagine a Rukongai runt breaking away from the slums to make a name for themself, a prisoner managing to fix his life and start anew, the reclaim of their rightful title as a member of the Eleventh Division, or an unspoken underdog that takes everyone by surprise!”
She points directly at the camera on her face and pulls down her black shades, showing off those bright irises of hers.
“If you are not yet registered within the Ninth Division sign-up station, you don’t have much time left. Our entries will be closing soon as today is the last before we begin our match-ups, so if you are ready to put your lives on the line for this extreme title, please head to one of four booths located at each gate, supervised by each respective guardian.”
Her tone begins to grow more serious and she completely removes her glasses and holds them in her hand.
“Understand that your livelihoods will be at risk the moment that you step into that ring. There are no rules, no limitations, no restraint. If you decide to surrender, your opponents do not have any reason to accept and will kill you if they can or have to. To prove you are capable of being the strongest soul in this plane, you must be willing to take someone’s life before they take yours. The bloodshed will be immeasurable. Tactics of all sorts will be used without a second thought, so keep a good head on your shoulders and fight with everything you have. You’ll need it.”
Yasu points to a screen behind her and it shows the immediate list of individual flashing across the screen. Outside of herself, the other four captains were listed, as well as three members of the Eleventh Division, not that she was surprised. They really wanted to keep that title for their respective division, but she wondered just who it was that would oppose them. She then turns back to the camera, smiling rather cheekily and she begins once more.
“The Ninth Division will be holding a betting pool that can be accessed at our booth locations or by phone.We currently have operators in our Publishing Office on standby to take your bets and calls.1 Kan to 100 Kan odds for each of our current participants. You can change that with your many bets. That’s it for now. The next time you see me, the games will be starting and I will be introducing our participants one by one right before we begin.”
For all currently recorded participants that hold an identification card in their position, their instructions were to gather at the Northern Gate for interviews and question up until the time to accept participants was over with. Yasu would just enjoy herself until then.