Time for some Snooping

Kuro walked through the Seireitei as the sun was finishing its descent beneath the horizon. Under the cover of darkness he made his way into the higher class roads of the noble living areas, heading for the Shihoin estate. He'd decided that it was time for him to get up and do something without leaving everything to Tatsuya. Held in his hand was a small trinket that would hopefully give him what he needed tonight. He had spent many days designing and assembling the device with the help of the members of the 12th squad, though most of the creating had been on his own plans. They had helped with the technical parts that he didn't quite understand.

-1 week earlier-

Kuro strolled into the 12th squad labs with a rolled up piece of paper grasped in his hand. Eyeing the shinigami currently present, his gaze fell upon some who he recognized having dealt with before. They cringed as he approached, remembering the rough and insistent way he'd called upon their expertise before; he had not been himself that day, and the situation had been dire. Kuro walked up and unfurled the paper, showing a few jotted down notes of what he wanted their help with.

"I want to make a device capable of picking up and remembering conversations." he announced to the trio of scientists. "I'd make it myself, but I am not the best when it comes to assembling my own gadgets. I ask for your help in this."

The men were taken aback by Kuro's different attitude addressing them this time and politely took a look at his notes and considered what he'd requested. Immediately, they began to chatter quietly among themselves with their own ideas on how to make the device. Such machines had been heard of in the living world for years, but few existed in soul society. They spent the remainder of the day drawing up blueprints and arguing about how to best design the device in terms of effectiveness and usability. When they settled down for the night, Kuro remained awake, looking over their plans and adding additional ideas and notes of his own. While he wasn't skilled with the mechanics, he did know what he wanted.

With the plans made, the building began. Kuro was amazed at the speed with which they worked, their hands delicately shaping and putting together various parts with the intended operations built in. It was done within the next day without any help from Kuro in that step and was quite impressively built. Using a semi-modifiable material that could conform to the user's body, it was a flesh colored device in the shape of a cone with curved sides. Inserted like an ear plug with the skinny end of the cone embedded in the ear, it had an opening in the end that allowed sound to pass through not entirely disturbed by the blockage of the device. The scientists took a look from the outside to check the device's blending capability and were satisfied, unless a person knew to pay extra close attention to Kuro's ear, they wouldn't be see the device.

"Now captain, lightly pinch on the lower side of the cone to activate its recording function. A pressure button inside the material acts as its input controller. One pinch will start and stop recording and two pinches in quick succession will activate a playback function to let you know what you've recorded. Pinch quickly four times in a row to clear the memory. What you record can be shared with others by letting them insert the device into their own ear or played on a outer speaker by holding the pressure button down for three seconds."

Kuro was immensely impressed. At their direction, he brought his fingers up and activated the device for the first time. His hearing was slightly disturbed by the obstruction in his ear canal, but he could still hear well enough. The recorder worked in theory by using its similar design to the outer ear to pick up sounds that entered the ear and recording them to its memory. With testing over the next few days, Kuro and the men discovered that because of its design and placement, the recorder only had an effective range of Kuro's own earshot. So he'd have to get close to his target to record what they said. That was doable. He was extremely satisfied with what the scientists had helped him make and in such a short time too. Thanking them, he went out to practice with it for a bit before getting to his self assigned mission.

-Current Day-

The large estate of the noble family loomed ahead of Kuro as he approached while keeping to the shadows. Guards patrolled the walls and grounds of the large complex with little room for error in slipping past them. Kuro reached up and inserted his recording device in his ear for safe keeping while making his way inside. Taking a running start, he flash stepped over the wall with little more than a swish of his haori. He made sure to keep his reiatsu calm and hidden so that nobody would notice his intrusion. He was the second captain and therefore had a right to visit the estate, but what he needed required his presence here to remain unknown. He hid behind a patch of decorative shrubbery as he planned his next move. The large main building of the estate was out of the question. The guards there were more thorough with their patrolling than any other area of the grounds. Besides, Kuro's target wouldn't be in there at this time of night. He wanted the large barracks building across the compound where the Onmisukido stayed when not on duty. Looking to make sure none of the wall guards were watching the inner courtyard, he dashed out of his hiding spot and made his way to the building.

It was easy enough to get inside, but staying hidden was harder. Unlike the large and elaborate design of the Shihoin family's living areas, the Onmitsukido barracks were much smaller and plainer. The halls were thin passageways that only three men would have the room to walk side by side in. It had a few decorations coating the walls to add to its character, but the difference in class from the main noble residence was apparent. Kuro slowed his progress down and made sure to steer clear of other voices and sounds as he would have little time to hide in such a spot. His caution was well used, but proved insufficient. The voices of two guards chatting around the next corner he approached suddenly put him on guard. The men came around the bend, and found nothing there. They stepped forward slowly, appearing to look for something.

"I thought I might of heard something around here..."

The man got no more words out as Kuro dropped like a stone from his hiding spot that he'd taken to in haste up in the beams by the ceiling. Chopping out with both hands, he laid both men out with a single blow as he landed behind them. It was an unfortunate development since he didn't have anywhere to hide the unconscious bodies. Who knew how much time he had until another guard passed through this spot and found them? He left them behind and resumed his infiltration. He was getting annoyed with how long it was taking to find his target when he was suddenly rewarded by an unmistakable angry voice. Speeding down the hall, he heard the voices of Raiden and a few of his men walking through the building. It sounded like they'd just finished a day of work and were returning to relax and maybe enjoy a drink. Kuro noticed a large room to his left with a table and several chairs in it. Possibly the room that they were coming towards. Taking the gamble in hopes of securing a good hiding spot before they arrived, Kuro made his way inside as the men rounded the next corner. They entered the room much to Kuro's satisfaction, shut the door and sat down as Raiden continued with his angry rants.

"Yet another day has gone by and we still haven't caught Tatsuya Okibi. Until this case is officially closed, I'm not able to take it easy for even a moment! Captain Akarui has been suspicious of me from the start." He groaned as he leaned his head onto an open palm as if trying to ease a headache. "Perhaps I should have framed the captain when I took out the elder rather than Okibi. It would have been a bigger thorn out of my side."

"But sir," one of the other men piped up over a small cup of sake, "Isn't your plan still on track? The captain himself has on more than one occasion told you that he still trusts Okibi. The odds are that he's still trying to help him."

More than trying I'd say. Kuro thought smugly from his perch in the ceiling beams in a corner of the room overlooking this meeting. He'd already activated his E.A.R. and was listening to every word that was said below.

"As long as the captain keeps up with that behavior," the man continued, "eventually we'll be able to catch him in the act and arrest him as an accomplice to a treasonous murderer. I've also heard rumors that the Central is viewing the captain with suspicious attitudes based on the same reasoning. So when we do get something on him, we shouldn't get any resistance in ridding the Soul Society of him."

Raiden snapped back with obvious impatience. "You think I don't know all that you fool?! It was my plan from the start. But those lowlifes from the Rukongai are proving as slippery as a next of roaches. Both Okibi and the captain are keeping themselves mostly off the radar so that we can't do anything but continue to search. I had planned for all of this mess to be done and our forces cleared of such peasant scum by now. The longer it takes just makes me uneasy, like I'm missing something."

Oh, I'd say you're missing something all right. Kuro thought savagely with a hateful gaze pouring at Raiden's back. You're giving your confession and you don't even know it.

"I won't be at ease until this is all taken care of and the case is closed and forgotten. Then we'll finally be...what was that?" Raiden rose from his chair as shouts could be heard outside the door. One of his men who was closer to the entrance got up and opened the door to allow them all to hear the message.

"We have men down! Possible intruder in the estate!"

The halls were beginning to fill with guards and onmitsukido running everywhere in a well organized drill of defense. Raiden and his men were up and out of the room in moments. Kuro smirked and turned off his recorder and prepared to make his escape. He slipped off his haori and neatly folded it up before slipping it in his robes. With only his shihakusho underneath now showing, he was able to slip out of the room and blend in with the mass of men running through the building and out into the grounds. When he was near enough to the wall, he took his leave with a quick flash step that carried him over the wall. He sneaked away outside, not dropping his guard until he had put considerable distance between himself and the estate. I'll leave them to search for their intruder. I've got what I wanted now. Your free days have just been considerably reduced Raiden.