For Science! [Watari/closed]

It was a sunny day in Karakura Town and for once Raphael didn’t have any major work to do, as his boss had decided to give him the day off. He wasn’t too fussed about it, especially since this would give him time to work on some personal projects as well as people watch. It was a pretty fun pastime, if he was asked, but there was always one big problem: those whispers that he was always hearing. That made it hard to actively people watch, not to mention the fact that there were the monsters with masks always popping on and attacking people… Especially the people with chains on their chests; well, he called them people but they were really spirits, ghosts that lingered too long.

The pajama wearing samurai were nearly as bad as the masked monsters but at least they could be more easily evaded, or studied, when need be. Unfortunately he had no way of truly analyzing energy wavelengths, or else he’d bring in instruments like that. Much to their chagrin, Raphael needed as much information on them as possible, just in case they decided to invade Earth and bring their weirdness to Earth. The more information that he had on them, the better off he was, regardless of if they were actually enemies or simply a neutral party.

But after a quick shower and a cup of coffee, he was on his way to downtown Karakura. It always made him laugh how Tokyo was eight different smaller “cities” that were just named as Tokyo. And Karakura was luckily just far away enough that fewer people came all the way out there just to find some enjoyment. He sat on a bench far enough away from people so that he wasn’t near enough anyone to give them any obligation to come and talk to him, but not far enough away that he couldn’t watch them comfortably. The bowl of ramen that he’d gotten was particularly good for the day.

It seemed odd, though, almost too good, in fact. There were no sighting, feelings nor even whispers from any masked creatures OR pajama samurai. This was…not something that he was used to and so he kept looking around, trying to figure out if one was coming, though it wasn’t easy. And to make matters worse, he’d been there an hour and he was starting to hear the voice again… They were never very loud, but the whispers made it hard to focus and they gave him a headache… Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen and took two tablets, hoping to quell his headache and keep his eyes out for any entities of a non-phsyically corporeal nature…

“Suzumei-sama are you sure about this trip to the Human World?” one of his guards said as he stood in front of the Suzumei private senkaimon enclosed within their cherry tree orchard. His guards were stern gentlemen but knew the head of the family could hold his own in a fight, his skills at Zanjutsu were said to surpass many of the academies recruits and this on his own had led him to his early graduation. That, and he suspected the subtle greasing of pockets, he wasn’t going to question that however.

“I’ll be fine” he popped a cigarette into his mouth and lit it, taking a long drag and breathing out softly as he felt his muscles loosen. Watari Suzumei vanished through the glowing gateway and onto the human world. He was heading to Karakura Town to ascertain the possibility of opening an official Suzumei-branch. Karakura was apparently a spiritual hot spot, so opening a small operation in the town would probably benefit his family in the long run.

The Suzumei Family had fallen on desperate times, with the old Head having been assassinated and their assets systematically crumbling around them, Watari had to work to build back what had been lost. One of these many leads was of course to head to this place.

So as the Senkaimon opened in an alleyway and he stepped out, dressed in a formal business suit - Zanpakuto strapped to his horizontally across his lower back. Watari couldn’t help but slouch a little at the burden he was carrying. As of this moment, Watari Suzumei was unmarried and had very little family that wanted to step into the spotlight, a lot of them had become contemptuous over time and had added to the degradation of their estate. It wouldn’t take long before the other major noble powers would seek to remove the Suzumei from their position of power.

Watari straightened up after another drag of the cigarette and walked out of the alleyway. He noted a bench with a human on it and sat down on it. Where to begin? The human next to him couldn’t see him, after all he wasn’t wearing one of those gigai that certain Shinigami toted around the place. Gigai were a commodity that Watari had never been interested in and even if he was, they just didn’t have the funds.

He moved his hand to his Zanpakuto and drew it, looking down at the Asauchi that still hadn’t given him it’s name and placed it on his lap. The Suzumei Head ran his finger along the blade watching it glisten under the light and the grease of his fingers seemed to cloud the blade slightly. He frowned rubbing at it until the fog disappeared before resheathing the weapon.


“Maybe I shouldn’t go back. I could be like one of those rogues and hang out in the human world until the end of time” another long extended sigh and he took another drag of his cigarette finishing it and flicking the butt onto the sidewalk next to the bench. He couldn’t do that, he couldn’t let his family down - that was why he had enrolled in the Academy and had strived so hard. So why? Why?! Would his Zanpakuto not respond.

Another problem.

Raphael couldn’t shut his the voice out, not matter how hard he tried squeezing his head and keeping his eyes shut. The migraine that it was causing was damn near incomprehensible. He wished so badly that he could shut these people, these damn whispering voice, constantly talking to him, telling him secrets that they didn’t want others to know. It was annoying, sometimes, not being able to shut the constant voice out of his head. Fucking goddammit. The ibuprofen wasn’t helping all that much.

Unfortunately, much to his chagrin, someone sat down beside him. The man had a cigarette in his mouth, of course, god forbid he be understanding of others. He was turning to the man, to tell him to put the goddamn cigarette the fuck out, when he saw the man pull a fucking sword out from his back and watched as the man ran a finger along it.

“Yo,” Raph said, finally making his presence known, through a headache from hell. “Not to burst your bubble there, dude, but if you’re going to smoke, can you at least put the damn sword away? And, to pick up from that, why in the fuck do you have a sword?!” He watched the man for a moment or two. “…and which of the goddamn voices are you? Which of the whispers is your head?” He asked, looking at the man. “Rogues…? Dude, you ok? You sound like you’re going through some shit, man.”

Raph leaned back and looked around, yet much like him no one seemed to be paying attention to the man beside him. Dumbasses never paid attention, a police officer even walked RIGHT past them, giving a simple nod in Raphael’s direction as he looked at the man. “Did you desert from a military somewhere?” Raph asked. “Sounds like some pretty hardcore shit, dude. I’m Raph, by the way. What about you?”

Watari raised an eyebrow as he heard a questioning voice beside him. He tilted his head ever so slightly and was stunned to see that the human could actually see him. Was he dead? No, he was definitely giving off the spiritual pressure of a human despite a slightly above average spiritual pressure. The idea of Humans who could see spirits wasn’t new, it was more the chances of running into one. He had read a scientific journal once that suggested one in every one hundred thousand humans running around was probably spiritually aware in some way.

“You aren’t going crazy son. I’m not a voice in your head” the Shinigami replied bemused. He knew humans manifested powers in strange ways but voices? Interesting . . . very interesting. Was he getting the spirits around him confused with real life? Could he actually see Watari or was it rather he heard him close by. It was either that or this man was spiritually aware and drugged out of his mind.

“You could say I’m part of a military I’m not interested in being in. They talk about justice but I don’t actually think they know what justice is anymore, to be honest I’m not even sure I know accurately what my justice is anymore” he sighed and drummed his fingers against his temple. Possibly he would go find a liquor store and acquire some alcohol before he continued his investigations, it didn’t hit him as hard as mortals but Watari only drunk it for the hit more than anything else.

“Watari Suzumei,” he stretched a hand towards the curious mortal. Yes, a closer examination seemed to suggest slightly fluctuations in this man’s spiritual pressure akin to a kindling flame. “I am a Shinigami” He had no doubt that the human had seen his compatriots running around the city, most spiritually aware humans just came to assumptions about what they were. Ghostly Monsters and Ghostly Soldiers all running through the air for the greater good.

“That’s… That’s not exactly what I meant…” Raph replied at the man’s insinuation that Raph thought he was just a voice. “I can hear whispers of thought from other humans… That’s…” He sighed. “Never mind.” If this guy was what Raph was pretty sure that he was, very few people that he knew of carried a sword, after all, then he wouldn’t really understand what Raph meant. Their focus was on the world of the ghosts, and Raph wasn’t exactly a part of that, at least not yet. He wouldn’t have minded not being so either; after all there was a great deal to experience in the world and having more time would be nice…

Raph nodded as the man explained that he was part of an organization that he just really didn’t believe in anymore. “Lotta people and places spout justice, but it’s kinda like truth; there’s never just one and that means that what they’re going through requires justice. Just remember that your justice and an organization’s justice aren’t always the same thing. Ya don’t get your vacation days, even though your company said that ya would? Justice to them is not giving ‘em to ya, and you going after ‘em is justice to get what was promised you.” Raph shrugged. “Do what you think is right, consequences be damned.”

Shaking the man’s hand, Raph nodded. “Watare Suzumei. Gotcha. Well, it’s nice to meetcha, regardless of the fact that you’re a Shinigami. Still, ya don’t sound like a usual one. Not as much “for the balance” kinda talk, ya know what I mean?” He stretched a bit. “I can guess that being part of a larger organization isn’t that bad, but I don’t think it’s something that I could do. So, what are you doing down here on Earth for? I can’t imagine it’s that interesting.”

It’s funny, Watari hadn’t expected philosophical advice on Earth from a human. But wasn’t there an old noble analogy that if you put enough humans at typewriters eventually one of them would write a demon art? Maybe the old noble philosophy on mortals was wrong and there was more to them then what his father’s fathers had assumed. They weren’t just a part of a cycle, humans were something more - endlessly creative with endless scope. The human condition.

This man was right though, why listen to soul society justice? Why even listen to his own family's perverse sense of the word. Watari needed to stand up to what he thought ‘justice’ was and that was . . . to slay the monsters of men. Those people who spited his family, those people who killed his little sisters in cold blood and those people who couldn’t discern ‘honor’ from ‘duty’.

“The balance is something I loosely understand even as a Death God. To me Hollow and Shinigami do the same things, Hollow hunt, Shinigami hunt, Hollow feed, Shinigami purify. It’s the same thing right? Surely this natural balance of all things could only be interrupted by . . .Quincy? But I hear there’s few of those now” last he’d heard a lot of the Quincy clans had vanished leaving no trace. Every so often a Quincy would emerge on Earth and enter the Soul Societies radar; usually the particular Monk of Destruction had been consumed by some sort of “Blood Rage” and attempted mass killings of Hollow in an attempt to out-balance the universe. Of course they were always put down.

“I was opening an office, or rather I heard that Karakura was a hotspot where the layers between our world and yours were thinnest. I’ve been rebuilding my family's estate and it seemed to me like a good idea to open an office here. Say, you haven’t told me your name yet but you seem pretty put together. I need a few good men to make sure packages are delivered smoothly” Watari had decided, he would chuck away all stigma. Why judge mortals as being lesser? Where had that gotten his family outside of deceit and corruption at a fundamental level. Corruption that he would need to slice off and cauterize the moment he entered those hallowed halls of the Suzumei House again.

“What do you say? Work with me and you’ll be paid well also I can probably arrange a Hell Butterfly for you” he outstretched a hand towards the man, whether he took it or not didn’t really bother Watari, the human had helped him reorder his thoughts and sharpen his purpose.

Raphael listened intently as the man started talking about how little he really understood the fabled “balance” of the Shinigami and that his view was a bit more simplistic. Yet when he heard the name ‘Quincy’ his interest was a bit more piqued. They destroyed spirits, eh? He couldn’t help but ponder how, how it was that they were able to override a universal spiritual phenomenon. He’d heard the Shinigami talk about the purification that they did, and that the hollows devoured others, often turning them into more of their own. Yet the quincy seemed to possess an override, some way to destroy the soul permanently.

While the admission of fact was a fascinating, and wonderful, thing to have, he kept getting distracted by the voices in the air. Someone complaining about some kind of scandal across the road, a woman walking behind him pondering ‘why that kid was talking to himself’, which reminded him that they couldn’t see the man beside him. It didn’t really bother him, he’d been doing shit like this since he was a kid, though the whole hearing people’s thoughts was fairly recent. He’d just had to suppress it as best he was able. That’s why he loved working in the server room at his company. No one bothered him. People left him alone and he could do his job.

The man’s logic was incredibly sound, despite being a Shinigami; perhaps he wasn’t one of the high and mighty ones? Yet the thought of opening an office in Karakura Town made him just a bit confused. Why would a noble house of the pajama samurai want to consult or even have dealings with humans of the material plane? Every time that Raphael saw them, they were always talking about how dumb mortals were, simply because they hadn’t lived a long time. Raph had half a mind to remind them that they’d once been human. Though they’d retort that they’d lived longer and, thus, were wiser now. That wasn’t true, however; most still clung to one dogmatic belief or another…

“I’m honestly surprised that you’d ask a mortal for help.” He studied the man for a few seconds, his focus momentarily shutting out the voices that threatened to drown his own subconscious. “You’d also need to explain what a ‘hell butterfly’ is, cuz from a human standpoint it sounds horrifying. I’m fascinated, however, by the fact that I can’t hear your thoughts. I might be getting hundreds of whispers a minute, but I have a good enough ear that I know whose is whose.” It would be a wonderful way to get data and learn a thing some things. “Well, since my last job exploded and I find myself lacking employment, I’ll take you up on that. Name’s Raphael. Raphael Laurent.”

Well Raphael wasn’t strong, a hell butterfly was a terrifying sounding name in a world of Hollow and Shinigami. He shook his head at his own ignorance but he posited that he had a lot to learn about mortals considering all the hubris and propaganda he’d been given over the years. That was fine, there was always more to learn as being a head of a family he supposed. Luckily, Watari had also gained an employee an important stepping stone in the world of the living.

Watari reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette carton, he had many of these cartons lining his suits but this was a special one. He extracted a cigarette and tapped the end of it with his index finger. The cigarette seemed to unravel as if from a chrysalis a yellow and black butterfly emerged, different from what Shinigami would usually use to travel through the senkaimon.

“This is a Hell Butterfly, a handy tool. It’ll let you traverse the world of the living to the land of the Shinigami - the “Death Gods”. With one of these you can request from my family access to our lands and return there at any time. You may find it handy” he tapped the head of the butterfly and it transformed once more into a cigarette with an inscribed S on the filter. He passed the cigarette to Raphael.

“Further, my agents will be in contact with you and will sense the bizarre spiritual pressure the thing emits. Most beings aren’t attune to the “frequency” of it so it shouldn’t attract any other attention that you are likely accustomed to by now” his father had managed to convince the fourth squad to modify their hell butterfly in such a peculiar way. He was sure all the noble families in Soul Society probably had something similar but this was a signature of the Suzumei Family.

“Finally I must take my leave. I’ve just sensed a bizarre occurrence, we’ll be in touch Mr Laurent”

And then just like that, Watari Suzumei was gone

//EXIT.

Raphael watched, seemingly transfixed, as Watari procured a packet of cigarettes from his coat and pulled one out. This was some kind of magic that they had and, Raphael for one, was more than happy to see just what these people had up their sleeves. Like a child watching a magician, he gave silent ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s as the Shinigami tapped the cigarette only for it to unfold into a butterfly with yellow and black colorings. Watari’s explanation was appreciated, and it gave him a bit of insight as to how the beings came to the world, but was even more fascinated upon learning this would allow him to traverse the gap between dimensions as well. Upon Watari tapping it on the head again the butterfly wrapped itself back up, becoming a normal cigarette again.

Taking it, Raphael nodded that the agents would be in contact with him and would know the special energy signature it gave off, before explaining it shouldn’t garner more attention than usual. He was glad of that, having his office explode the first time had been more than enough for him. Still the creature turned smoking implement fascinated him, and wondered just what else one could do with enough spiritual power and know how.

As the Shinigami dashed off into the night, Raphael simply gave him a brief nod and put the cigarette into his pocket and scratched at his chin. “Fascinating. Quite fascinating…” he smiled. “I know that I’ve always had a bit of a dislike for Shinigami…but this might prove to be not only entertaining, but also quite enlightening… This might be the first time that I’ve actually been looking forward to a job before.”

//THREAD END