Double Loyalty [Locked]

The day was early, and most shinigami's had just awoke, yet Tatsu was full of new found energy, shortly after his stroll across the city, his wandering had led him towards the gate of the second division. It took him quite a while to gather the courage to actually cross the massive gates. They were closed by sentries were there for good show, seeing the samurai they recognized him from earlier when he had proceeded through the barracks to acquire his zanpakuto.

Nodding to him they openned the gate and he proceeded through the court of the second division admiring whatever was there to be seen,heading quickly towards the captains desk, alot of other shinigami who saw him stroll through wondered what he was doing, and recognized him to be the rogue they kept in for a day or two. It took him a very short amount of time to find the captains door..closed most likely. Tatsu stood behind it, trying to gather the words in his mind, how would he proceed this..he needed to come clear with the captain and he needed him to know what happened without actually vocalizing it, he didn't know if this Tattoo was more than a tattoo to show his loyalty to the blond man the captain seemed to hate so much.

Lightly knocking twice on the door Tatsu waited for the captains reply, wondering if he knew he was already there. His heart was beating heart and strong, he didn't want to betray this man but he had to know that he wasn't king of his actions.

Kuro had mixed feelings about the reiatsu he felt approaching through his squad grounds. His mind had been heavily taxed since the date of Tatsu's trial. Despite all he'd promised the captured shinigami, all he'd done on that day to try and make the Central see the other side of the picture, in the end it had all amounted to nothing. In order to succeed in gaining Tatsu his freedom, Kuro had been forced to make a deal with Tyrannus. He didn't like it, but he'd had no choice if he wanted to uphold his promise to do everything he could.

As Tatsu arrived at his door, Kuro heard the soft knock from the other side. Not bothering to get up from behind his desk, Kuro acknowledged his arrival and called for the visitor to come in. Smiling weakly as Tatsu entered, Kuro did his best to remain supportive despite what the other man must think of him at this point. "Hey there. How are you holding up?"

The samurai eyed the door for a mere few seconds before the captain let him inside. The samurai had a sorry look on his face but still looked at the captain, probably a few pounds missing from the lack of proper food. His hairs were still retied with the red ribbon Kaiyo had given him, and his person was looking fresh as if he had the time to actually groom up before meeting the captain. being accepted within the room Tatsu opened the door and walked in glancing upon the captain that had saved his life.

Tatsu had his zanpakuto and a smile on a his face, he approached the chair devoted to the guests of the captain and he sat down staring at the captain and answering his question. ''Better than the last few days, I don't know what you have done..but something worked somewhere.....it seems I'll still be alive in nine days...''
His due date of execution was meant for nine days which is why he talked to the captain about it. His voice held no grudge or no negative emotion, it was easily seen that it held friendship and nothing else.

''I'd wish to join your division Kuro..to show you why you saved me, I'll fight until my last breath follow you orders until I can't block until my arms are crushed..'' Tatsu started the conversation quite strongly, normally someone asking a good friend to accept him within his division would harbor a smile. But Tatsu's glance were only filled with regret, there was also something else that he needed to tell the captain but he awaited his reply.

The attitude Tatsu presented was one that shocked Kuro. He had expected a hurt look of a betrayed man or some kind of anger or hatred from Tatsu in response to his desertion at the end of the hearing. Was it possible that Tyrannus had actually told Tatsu of their arrangement? That was unlikely. Kuro sighed in relief, figuring that Tatsu was just giving him the benefit of the doubt and believed in him that he'd done everything he could to help him out. That was a load off of his mind. And that Tatsu was out of confinement and back on the streets free once again was another. But his sudden request surprised Kuro.

"I never imagined that you'd wish to join our division. I had thought you'd return to the squad you shared with Kaiyo. But if you want to fight alongside us, I have no problem with that. I actually give you my warmest welcome into our ranks." Kuro was never the type to turn down a request to join his division. Every new addition was a welcome new comrade, and one as honorable as Tatsu was especially welcome. He knew that the redeemed shinigami would make a great addition to their forces.

Tatsu smiled at how the captain greeted him and he believed in kuro, leaving at the end of the hearing was the last thing he was able to do or so Tatsu believed. There was also something important that he needed to tell the captain and the samurai didn't believe he could say so just outright. And on a more personal note he also wanted to know which seat he would occupy, he only knew the duties of a third seat, carrying the information back to the captain and being a personal messenger of the captain.

''Well..when I was in the tower..I met the blond man that led us to the hearing at the central.'' Saying this he was sure that it would catch the captain's attention. Raising his hand to awkwardly scratch the back of his head, revealing the newly formed Tattoo on his wrist, still marked in red from the day before. ''He was the one to write the papers to ..let me out..'' Still going these were the important words he hoped Kuro would understand without him needing to say them. ''Of course I had duties..and my honor to uphold I took a vow and I can't simply turn it down, but now that I am in your division, I'll make sure to live up to your expectations of my skills and abilities...which duties shall I uphold?'' Tatsu's glance was serious, he wanted some acknowledgement of the captain, he wanted to make sure he knew what Tatsu was stuck in.

Kuro's face fell as Tatsu mentioned Tyrannus. The fear of what he might ask of him in the future was still fresh in Kuro's mind, nagging at him with the possible threat of some diabolical scheme. It was not a subject he wanted to keep dwelling on. But from Tatsu's words, it seemed that he did not know of the arrangement. Kuro decided to keep it to himself so to avoid making Tatsu uncomfortable about the whole thing. The mark on Tatsu's wrist caught Kuro's attention for a moment, and he decided to comment on it just to be polite.

"Interesting ink you've got. It looks new. You get it on after being released?" He continued afterwards, "Yes I know about his involvement. I was...informed that he'd be the one to finalize everything." Kuro was glad that Tyrannus had kept his part of the deal, and with a timely fashion. Now Tatsu was here with him and wanted to be put to work. It lightened Kuro's mood to see him acting so eager. It was a reaction that never got old in his mind. "Your duties are the same as they are in any other squad; You'll go on patrols to ensure the safety of souls in both the Soul Society and the living world. Of course as a part of our squad, you might be assigned a mission to deal with a criminal from time to time to preserve the peace. We are a squad that, while at least under my command, operates under a sense of teamwork, honor, and justice. I know that you'll be able to abide by those guidelines."

Tatsu sighed as he heard the captain a little sad he couldn't pick up the hidden meaning in his choice of words, a little saddening but he wouldn't say anything, might as well tell him as clear as sound who gave him the tattoo. How to start though he didn't want to make the captain thin they were enemies, Tatsu didn't want that. ''I...I got the ink from the blond man too..along with obligations'' Tatsu said as clearly as water hoping that would trigger the words he said earlier in the captains mind.

Hiding the tattoo on his wrist with his sleeve he looked at the captain taking a deep breath trying figure out how he was going to say this. ''He came in my cell, and asked me wether I wanted to die there...of course I said no and he told me that the only way to get out was to swear an oath to him.'' Tatsu did not seem too proud of what he just said, but as any man or almost any man he was rather afraid to die and he had prevented his early death. He was hoping the captain would still want him within his division, because that was his own doing. Telling him was also his own doing, he could've just kept the fact for himself. Tatsu laughed, he knew that if the cpatain wouldn't catch his ows he would go on about the regular shinigami duties while he meant seat..he wanted to know if he would be an officer or not. ''I meant..will I be a seated officer or am I going back down to the bottom?''

Kuro stopped suddenly after Tatsu elaborated on his encounter with Tyrannus. His expression turned cold as he felt the stab of the blonde man's double cross. Nowhere in their discussion or arrangement had there been any mention of Tatsu getting shackled with an obligation. Only Kuro should have had to do anything in return for the favor Tyrannus had given him. This was not welcome news. Kuro's hands clenched tightly on top of his desk in frustration.

"Thank you for letting me know of this. I like to have as much knowledge about that group as possible these days. That he would involve you in something is a surprise, but not one that I can't find ways to work around."

Kuro went silent in thought for a moment. If Tyrannus was going to use Tatsu for something, perhaps it would be best to keep him at a distance. But at the same time, that would only put him in danger. Not only would he lose any potential use to Tyrannus, but the sudden 180 from Kuro's loyalty to him to cutting off contact would be a giveaway clue that somehow Kuro had gotten wind of Tatsu's new role. He still seems sincere about fighting with us and serving our squad, so I can't think of a good reason to deny him that. I'll just have to be careful of what information I let him in on so as to limit what he actually knows for Tyrannus to force out of him.

"Ah, your seat. You have proven yourself to be quite capable. That much is apparent from your lengthy evasion of the Gotei forces. If you're okay with it, I offer you to serve as the 3rd seat of our squad."

Tatsu's glance met Kuro's both equally serious to be sure he wanted to be sure that the captain would not consider him a traitor, his loyalty was just at stake and he had lost enough honor in the recent events. Tatsu just wanted to prove his ultimate loyalty by telling the captain why he wanted to join his division. ''This way, you can plan ahead..'' It was easily audible that the samurai didn't feel too proud of himself although he had been accepted within the division of his savior.

''Well then..it seem's I could be a double edged blade for both parties...''

It seemed Tatsu's loyalty only brought him trouble but he didn't want to falter from his path, he wanted to believe what was right and what he believed in. Right now he believed in the captain above all else. ''I'll gladly accept the duties of 3rd seated officer of the second division within the gotei'' Tatsu stood up and faced the captain, there was something he wanted to say, something that really bothered him. ''You know...Kuro...'' He addressed him personally...not as the captain he just vowed to but as the friend who took him back to his duties. ''I'm really glad you helped me this much, I will invest myself body and soul, you can count on me...in every situation..even this one. Of course Tatsu wasn't really good with this kind of request but he gathered his courage, and spoke up one last time. ''I was told by a friend of mine that I earned this headband and that if I kept practicing I'd be a great member of the eleventh squad...that day I fought her..I was still an academy student and I fought her with all I knew...Captain...I'd like to show you all I know, all I can do, so you can always know what to expect of me..because I'd give you no less, my loyalty knows no bounds''

Kuro let the unpleasant thoughts of Tyrannus' intentions leave his mind as the subject moved on. He broke out in a wide grin as Tatsu began to promise his service and loyalty, both of which Kuro had no doubt in. "No need to be so formal and serious about everything. I know that you'll do your best, just like you did in your previous position." Kuro truly was glad to have Tatsu back with their forces, and he knew that the samurai lived by a code of honor that kept purpose in his life. Talking to any other person, Kuro would suggest easing up and living a bit more for his/herself, but such a suggestion would probably only be hurtful to someone like Tatsu. He caught on to the friend Tatsu mentioned and was surprised by the tale of the demonstration of his abilities, more so by his request to perform the same demonstration for Kuro now. It was true that he didn't know all about Tatsu's abilities, but he'd figured he'd learn them over time with Tatsu serving beside him in the squad. Such a instant display was going above and beyond the call of duty. But again, it was what Tatsu wanted to do, so Kuro saw no reason to refuse him.

"I see that your will is set on this, so who am I to say no? Where would you like to do this?"

Tatsu bowed a small smile on his face as he went back to his position, he needed to find a proper place that wasn't too far, for sure the second squad had to be equipped with a training group so he turned to the captain and asked. ''Training grounds, I believe that considering what I want to show you and the possibilities it occurs we need a rather large field..''

Tatsu stood up and walked to the door, opening it for the captain as per say of his newly acquired duties. He would wait for the captain to walk past him and follow him towards the training grounds. Tatsu's reiatsu fluctuated with anticipation of a sword fight with such a skilled opponent back in the days he had managed to land a blow on Kaiyo, he wondered if he could do the same with Kuro.

Kuro nodded at the suggestion. The training grounds would be a good location for this. It was a large enough space that could allow for decent combat movement while also showing the squad members around the grounds to witness the spar. Satisfied with the idea, Kuro got up from his desk and walked out the door heading straight for the training grounds. Squad members turned to watch, wondering what the captain was up to with the visitor who had entered his office just recently. Kuro paid the watching eyes no heed, calmly making his way to the center of the grounds and proceeding to do a few warm up stretches to loosen himself up after sitting behind his desk all morning. When he finished, he stood on the grounds facing Tatsu, his reiatsu flaring out at a calm and comfortable level showing that he was ready and willing. He didn't have his blade drawn yet, but everyone watching knew that that meant nothing when it came to gauging Kuro's preparation.

Tatsu also ignored the crowd that was slowly forming around the training grounds, he'd rather look at the clouds and relish in his current freedom. He looked at his white wrapped zanpakuto and smiled lightly at it, towards the left and the right stretched his back and legs, he would need it...this would be a fight that untrained eyes wouldn't be able to follow. Placing himself exactly five meters in front of the captain, he already had an opening strike planned ahead.

Slowly taking his sheath in hand and placing his hand on the handle lifting them both in front of him, he allowed a slight bow and flared his reiatsu to show the captain he was ready, and kuro seemed also ready. Without further notice, Tatsu opened with his signature move, vanishing from his current spot, un sheathing -while- the shunpo occured and slashing as he appeared, he had calculated his blow to be precisely at the tip of his blade, enough to injure if the captain didn't dodge. He had calculated his strike to be precisely out of range for a counter attack, his zanpakuto was long and so was his arm, he had hoped it was enough..not that the combo would end there. Knowing, hoping he was out of range he quickly removed one hand from his handle and uttered a single word while pointing his finger at the captain. ''Byakurai''

Tatsu had a feeling...that the captain dodged and totally out of gut feeling he moved quickly to the left letting his feeling respond, Tatsu had given a strong opening, it was now the captain's turn.

Kuro watched the shunpo and reacted quickly to counter the strike. He saw Tatsu had placed himself carefully to remain in his range but out of Kuro's. Kuro made up for that by shunpoing in front of him, directly in the way of the sword's swing. A few flinches and gasps could be seen and heard from the onlookers as the blade flew right into Kuro's chest. But instead of the sound of ripping cloth and flesh accompanied by the splattering of blood and maybe a grunt of pain from the victim, only a loud ringing clanking noise sounded from the sparring grounds. Kuro's sheathed zanpakuto, tucked and strapped against his chest inside his robes, had prevented Tatsu's blade from causing injury to his body. And from his new position in front of Tatsu, Kuro had the perfect reach to lash out with a thrusting left palm strike as he flared his reiatsu and aimed for his sparring partner's mid body before he could followup his swing. Not wanting to leave things to chance, he followed with his right palm, taking a step forward and thrusting with enough force to harshly push Tatsu back from where he stood.

The blow was clean, straight to the captains rib cage but something was off, it seemed like the blow was willingly taken and blocked from some hard piece of something within his coat, leaving a small cut on the coat Tatsu quickly reacted to the captains response. People looked at the fight intently trying to learn tips and queues from the pair who were fighting. A hand strike was coming straight for the samurai and the captains reiatsu was flaring showing that this would be no friendly strike.

Raising his hands and deviating the captain's strike aimed at his mid torso to over his left shoulder, the strength of the blow shook the onlookers but Tatsu was still focused on the captain to let his guard down. Seeing the second movement as an opportunity to strike, Tatsu moved right, making the distance between the fist and his chest that much greater, he would slide his zanpakuto tip, who hadn't moved from its place upwards under the captains shoulder. It was the movement of a blade against the speed of a fist on the wrong side of the body, the samurai wouldn't stop his strike even if it meant taking the incoming one.

Kuro was proud of the success of his concealed zanpakuto blocking the blow from before, but inwardly scolded himself for not executing his counter attacks at a faster speed. Both of his barehanded strikes had left time to be deflected or countered. To make things more difficult, his second strike was being paralleled by a rising sword swing on his right. Kuro hissed in disappointment before halting the movement of his right hand and plunging his left into his robes to whip out his own zanpakuto. With no time to strike first without leaving himself open, Kuro's only choice was to bring his blade down quickly to stop the upward movement of Tatsu's. Now he wanted some space to think and plan out his next move. Blasting his reiatsu out again, he pressed down hard on Tatsu's blade to keep it from attacking while he slid his small zanpakuto down towards Tatsu's guard and swept the two of them apart. Kuro jumped back as he finished his motion, furthering the distance between them. Now he had enough space to watch and wait. The captain made no advance to resume the fight, choosing to hold back and calmly view Tatsu's next move.

Tatsu was rather proud of himself, he hadn't moved much used very little effort, that was how he fought making the least movement to make the worst thread possible. His talent with this blade was obvious and people were impressed. His attack was countered and the captain prevented a follow up using his own strength to push Tatsu back, it was quite effective because the samurai didn't have much spiritual pressure, which is why people were wondering why he was standing his ground against the captain.

Effectively pushed back Tatsu couldn't do anything to the fact the captain made a gap between the two, Tatsu eyes quickly calculate the distance between them and considered his options. His signature move would be an obvious choice so he stood there thinking of his other options. Holding out his hand in front of him he started to chant, yellow energy forming in his hand, he took his left hand and traced from left to right and from right to bottom and from bottom to left, forming a triangle, he proceeded to say. ''Bakudo no Sanju:Shitotsu Sansen''

That being done he showed the captain he was also able to perform some demon magic to some extent, and quickly the yellow energy rushed at him. Tatsu decided to take the fight a step higher and he proceeded to put his sword in front of him and uttering one word. ''Awaken'' The old katana he had in his hand was gone, replaced by an oversized sword no less than two meter long and thirty centimeter wide.

He dropped it beside him holding it with 1 hand taking a second to look awesome. ''Mizu Megami'' In a quick motion Tatsu shunpo'd in front of the captain always using the size of his sword to give himself that advantage and using it to the best he can. He couldn't do his signature move with this blade, he felt it was heavier than that old katana of his. So he proceeded to swing his massive sword after the shunpo was over vertically at the captains shoulder, the most scary part about that massive sword is the way Tatsu weilded it. One expected it to slam against the ground but the samurai twisted his whole body sending his sword in a three hundred and sixty degree spin making this another attack.

Interesting choice for a former seated member of squad 11. Kuro thought as Tatsu traced and charged the bakudo. In truth, his own use of kido was mediocre, but he knew enough to tip a battle in his favor. And right now using a kido was the best choice to avoid being disabled by Tatsu's spell and leaving himself open or wasting energy to break free. Bringing his hands to the ground swiftly, he called out, "Bakudo 21: Sekienton." At his cast, a large puff of red smoke burst out from where his hands were planted on the ground. Tatsu's spell flew into the cover, but nobody could see if it had found its mark. Kuro used the obscuring effect of the smoke to cloak his movement as he shunpoed at top speed out of the spell's path, speeding up to stand in the air over the grounds watching Tatsu from above.

Tatsu had released his shikai, turning his blade into a larger weapon that created problems range-wise for Kuro with his shorter zanpakuto. He'd have to use his speed to his advantage to attack while avoiding that large sword. From his point in the air, he could see as Tatsu moved in following his spell. But with the smoke on the scene, he had no way of knowing that Kuro wasn't where he thought. Kuro thought about this for a split second, then decided to try a deceptive tactic. Pointing at the spot where he had stood moments before, he cast another kido. "Hado 24: Water Slicing Blade." A stream of blue spiritual water leaped from the ground in front of Tatsu's advance, whipping across his sword as he swung as if he'd been parried by Kuro's blade in the middle of his attack. Hoping to catch Tatsu off guard this way, Kuro shunpoed back down to the ground, descending at high speed to land behind Tatsu and slash down his backside with his zanpakuto.