Mommy's got a scarecrow, gotta let the corn grow

[joinmyreunion]

When the others had said they were going back, Kadaj had said he'd join them.

He wasn't sure if he was ready to go home. He knew that when he did things would have changed, things would need to have changed. Orochimaru was gone, and Kadaj wasn't going to be viewed as just the impulsive idiot riding Kuja's coattails any more. His relationship with Gin was going to have changed as well. Kadaj had always trusted Gin in that he'd trusted Gin to be Gin; whose actions and motives were utterly beyond Kadaj's comprehension, but in the very least he got the impression that Gin wouldn't hurt him for the fun of doing so, which was more than Kadaj could say for any of the rest of Khamja. Where Gin was concerned, Kadaj tried not to be a hindrance, even if he didn't know how to be a help.

Now Gin knew secrets about Kadaj that no one else did. No one barring Nnoitra, and now Grimmjow, Tayuya, and Yylfordt. It would have put Kadaj on Gin's radar, he knew, he just had to hope now that whatever game Gin played didn't have need of a playing piece with Kadaj's moveset.

Then there was Kuja. Since he couldn't occupy the safe spot hiding behind Kuja's skirts any more, Kadaj might be surplus to Kuja's requirements. He could play him; play at being the loyal little ex-minion, but Kadaj knew he probably wouldn't be able to keep that up for too long. Better, then, to play at ingenue ally, in need of guidance, who may be inclined to owe Kuja some favours. It hurt to think it, but Kadaj trusted Kuja marginally less than he trusted Gin when it came to his own safety if he wasn't immediately useful to him.

And then, then there was Aizen. Kadaj doubted very much that his defeat of Orochimaru had put him on Aizen's radar, but he doubted Aizen disregarded the whole affair, either. It might, at worst, or at best, have put Kadaj down as an upstart to keep an eye on. Kadaj wasn't wholly sure how to ingratiate himself with that one yet, or whether doing so was even wise.

So returning to the Palace was frought with nerves and second guessing himself. Kadaj took the time to chase down one last Hollow before he headed back; a mean thing that a Gotei Lieutenant might break a sweat over, but which Kadaj could take down almost leisurely, now. Then and only then did he head back, driving the bike through the caverns and parking her with the airships.

Yylfordt could keep the Ragnarok. Kadaj was quite fond of his bike, now.

He approached the Palace doors with a sigh, steeling himself before he let himself in. The Palace felt very, very different to what he was used to. The usual suspects were all here, of course, their reiatsu interwoven with the general feel of the place, but there were dischords in the usual symphony. Reiatsu signatures missing, faded, no longer detectable, and intruders that were too new to have found their place in the piece, yet.

One of them felt familiar, though Kadaj couldn't really pinpoint why.

He was full of sand and dust from the desert, so the first thing he did was head off to have a shower and change. On his way, he left something outside Kuja's door, and once he'd showered, he headed straight to the kitchen, where the others tended to lurk.

Comments

[prayingmantis]

The kitchen, during mid-morning, was nicely empty. It was the golden time of day between the early risers getting up and foraging for their breakfast and those who tended to sleep in shuffling in for whatever was left over.

Nnoitra liked this time of day. It got Szayel's bright and early morning-person attitude out of the way and it was before the usual rabble descended on them to make noise and disturb the peace before going out to do whatever it was they did.

The peace, mercifully, had not been disturbed yet, and so he sat at the table, the day's newspaper in front of him courtesy of Nel, and a pen in his long fingers. He didn't often do the paper's crossword, he generally considered it boring, but some of the Sound kids had booked the training centre, so he couldn't go and kill time there.

They were welcome to it though. The weather machine affected both the training centre and the grounds and, right now, rain was lashing against the back door hard enough to rattle it in its frame. He smirked slightly as he imagined the sandy floor of the training grounds turning slick and muddy underfoot.

"Nine down," he said, narrowing his eye. "'Autonomous Jyllandi City State', two words... four seven."

He wasn't sure of that one. He doubted that the Ryoka scientist, who was seated a bit away from him at the table and reading a different newspaper, knew either. Luppi could sometimes help, but the little shit had scuttled off somewhere an hour ago and not come back. If Szayel knew, he expected that he'd pipe up with his usual air of superiority, just to piss him off.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

"Ankh Morpork," Szayel responded, airily and with more than a hint of smarm. He was nursing a fresh cup of coffee while he flicked through one of the fashion magazines that had lurked inside the newspaper.

He'd been lurking in public areas more often since Even and Hojo had arrived at the Palace. They were interesting subjects of study, and he'd spent time gleaning what information he could from them without their co-operation. Unfortunately, Even was harder to gather information about than Szayel would have liked; he was too adept at suppressing his reiatsu, and the only information Nel had given up to him consisted of informing Szayel that Even was a sentinel, and that one day he was going to get his nose cut off if he insisted on poking it into places people didn't want it.

Hojo was easier; he spent less time repressing his reiatsu, so the fact that he was a rare poison type was quickly apparent, as was the fact that he wasn't of the sort of power that required hiding to spare the lives of others. Hojo clearly fell into the 'other talents' category of assets to Khamja. Though when Nel had told Szayel he was liable to lose his nose one day, Szayel had, not unfairly, pointed out that Hojo still had his.

He'd noticed when Kadaj had re-entered the Palace. The echoes of his reiatsu had faded into the background, but had still been present, and then that morning it had spiked again as someone entered the Palace. He hadn't commented, however; he wanted to observe first.

The reiatsu grew stronger as he felt Kadaj approach the kitchen, and looking into his magazine, Szayel smirked. Kadaj and Even had history, didn't they? Perhaps it would be an opportunity to see some abilities neither had shown him.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj entered the kitchen with his head held high, even if that wasn't quite how he felt.

He glanced at the other occupants. Nnoitra he knew, and owed much, Szayel he also knew, and probably owed much in the way of punches to the jaw, but Szayel wasn't worth it.

The other one he also knew, and Kadaj stopped a couple of steps into the room, staring at the blond man. He knew there was a reiatsu he recognised; he'd encountered this man before in battle, but what was he doing here?

He didn't say anything, simply stared, his expression serious.

[thechillyacademic]

Even looked up.

He didn't immediately look up, but he raised his head when he heard the person who had come through it stop only a few paces in.

After his little spat with the Fire Elemental girl, Tayuya, he found her name to be, the other members of that group had gone to tell their gang leader and most volatile friend exactly who he could expect to run into. Even didn't know whether they had been forewarned not to get into any fights with him by their owner, or whether they were smart enough to have figured that out for themselves, but he hadn't had much comeback from them.

Yes, so Grimmjow had treated him to threatening glares and aggressive body language to begin with, and the girl continued to do so, but they were apparently used to the idea that he was a defector from their enemy's side and, ultimately, not going anywhere, that they didn't push their luck.

This one, another he knew, had only arrived today. He'd had felt him enter the palace, mostly because he clearly wasn't hugely adept at hiding his reiatsu, not like the other more powerful members of the Clan and their subordinates. This one wore his power, or some of it, on his sleeve, but even noticed that he was young enough to probably grow out of it.

Still, he sighed. Apparently, he hadn't been informed of his arrival.

"If I wasn't meant to be here," he said, carefully, and deliberately not aggressively, "I would not be sitting here and drinking tea amongst Arrancar."

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra scribbled the answer Szayel gave him into the boxes provided.

His writing, it had to be said, was much neater than you'd expect.

He looked up when Kadaj entered and paused. He knew he'd been gone on his bike, so he expected, when he felt him in the Zertinan Caverns, that he would be tired from his time on the road and likely to spend a day in bed, recovering from his travels, like the others had. Apparently that wasn't the case.

He glanced at the Ryoka, and at Szayel, and then back at Kadaj. Even he knew that Clan Skite had an ongoing feud with one of this man's ex-associates, but, thus far, and probably due to intervention from either Nel or Aizen himself, there had been no fights between them.

Kadaj, who had just returned from a few months away after the last Khamja scientist he'd killed, would probably not be dumb enough to swing for this one, whether he'd been informed of his arrival or not, and it looked like he hadn't.

[joinmyreunion]

"Do you think I'm too stupid to work that out for myself?" Kadaj asked, in response. He wasn't openly aggressive, but his response, and expression, suggested aggression was possible if this started turning sour.

He eyed the blond one for a moment longer before he headed to the fridge and helped himself to a glass of orange juice. He was awake enough, but mostly, he craved some of the comforts he hadn't had while traveling on his bike; easy access to hot showers, and fresh food. He got them when he stayed at inns, but it wasn't the same.

The blond one had to have been here for long enough to be comfortable in the presence of Nnoitra and Szayel, anyway, which suggested he'd been here a little while. Kadaj wondered how long it had been, and he kept looking at him as he moved around to also help himself to toast.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel murmured thoughtfully, a noise that rose in pitch and was the equivalent of going 'OoooOOOh' in his throat. "Someone got confident while they were gone," he muttered, not entirely under his breath, still looking at his magazine. "No less unhinged, however," he added, much more quietly.

In truth, Kadaj did seem different. He was more powerful, that was for sure, but he also hadn't flipped his lid the moment he'd seen Even which, by all accounts, Tayuya had. He was still young and cocky enough to flash some of his power in his reiatsu, however, or maybe he just hadn't learned how to suppress it properly, it was difficult to tell, exactly.

Killing Orochimaru seemed to have given him a confidence boost. Whether that was a good thing or not, only time would tell. Though if this kept up, maybe not very much time.

[declaregamuza]

Nel had felt Kadaj re-enter the Palace, but she hadn't expected him to make his way to the kitchen without the rest of his band of reprobates. They'd met up while the others were away, she'd gathered that much, but Kadaj hadn't often wandered around without them before he'd left.

She'd wondered how their initial reunion had gone, but the fact that Kadaj had come back suggested it had gone well enough.

Unfortunately, the kitchen was where she knew Even was, which was less of a problem than the fact that it was also where Szayel was, which added catalyst to the possible reaction.

She entered the kitchen with a couple of empty cups that hadn't made their way back there and smiled at the room. "The wanderer returns, then," she said, brightly.

[thechillyacademic]

Even, in truth, wasn't sure how stupid Kadaj was.

He decided that he couldn't be hugely intelligent, since snapping at somebody who was undoubtedly your elemental superior was not smart by any stretch of reasoning, but he didn't comment on it. Instead he quirked an eyebrow, picked up his mug to sip his tea, and went back to his newspaper.

He had better things to do than argue with children.

[prayingmantis]

"Stuff's changed since you left," Nnoitra said, sitting back in his chair. "We've got two new scientists."

Because scientists were, apparently, like grey hairs.

Other than the addition of the Ryoka and Professor Hojo into the palace's ranks, not much was different. Kadaj likely already knew that the Sound 4 were now Kuja's minions, either from Kuja himself or from Tayuya, and he couldn't think of anything else that had happened since he'd scarpered in the wake of the murder they had jointly committed.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj huffed softly at the blond, and then proceeded to ignore him. He wasn't going to like this guy, he knew, but he was, at least, quiet enough that Kadaj could get on and ignore him.

He nodded at Nel as she entered, and then eyed Nnoitra, choosing, for now, to ignore Szayel as the worthless stirrer that he was. "I noticed," he said. Two new presences had been apparent from the moment he'd walked in, although the fact that both were scientists was interesting.

The blond Ryoka was another scientist, then. That made the snotty little one and this guy. "So he's one," he said, to Nnoitra, indicating the new Ryoka with a vague gesture, "who's the other?"

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

"The other one would be Professor Hojo," Szayel said, with a hint of irritation. While his fanboying of the other scientist had burned brightly, it had also quickly become annoyance. The man refused to acknowledge Szayel as anything other than 'you', and he persisted in calling the other Arrancar 'subjects'.

Szayel, who considered them in no small part his, in collaboration with others of course, but he was the scientist assigned to monitor their progress and wellbeing at the Palace, did not approve of Hojo's verbal attempts to muscle in on his territory.

"Not that I expect you're familiar with him," he added, snottily. He judged Kadaj too stupid for that, that was for sure.

[declaregamuza]

Nel's tone was warning, and she drew out the 'a' of, "Szayel," as if she was scolding a child. She didn't tell him to wind his neck in, but the sentiment was definitely there.

Szayel, generally, really needed to return that spoon sometime.

She swept around to the sink, giving Even a smile as she went and deposited the used cups in it before flicking the kettle on to make herself a cup of tea.

[doesthissmellofchloroform]

Hojo rose from the labs like a bad smell.

The reiatsu signature that had been faint had returned to the Palace. It wasn't full force yet, but it was definitely that same signature, and some of the similarities to another were unmistakable.

It was worth investigating, and Hojo's curiosity had overtaken his dislike of leaving the labs for more than necessary journeys. He had a coffee machine, which meant the only things he needed to venture out for were food, cigarettes, and subjects. And he was working on the food situation.

He walked down the corridors with his hands clasped behind his back and a thoughtful expression. He'd require a sample to confirm the identity, really, even though he was sure of it anyway. Better to be thorough.

He could tell his desired subject was in the kitchen, and he wasn't alone, and Hojo entered without a word. Hebira's child, an Arrancar he hadn't met but whose reiatsu was always lingering in the kitchen, the selkie Arrancar he'd met, the blond ryoka...

Silver hair, no mistaking that, and a youthful arrogance to the reiatsu signature that meant it both hid and advertised itself. More slender than the first subject had been by this approximate age, but he'd also lacked the further experimentation and training. Hojo's experiments with this one had been disturbed.

Hojo adjusted his glasses and approached the boy. "Yes," he said to himself, "unmistakable."

[thechillyacademic]

Even cringed inwardly when Professor Hojo walked in.

He glanced up at him, briefly enough that it was clear that he wasn't trying to catch his eye but also not so quickly that it looked as though he was deliberately trying not to.

Luckily, he ignored him, and headed for ... Kadaj? Now, that was interesting.

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra rolled his eye as he felt Hojo approaching and made very sure to busy himself on his near-completed crossword to avoid any potentially annoying conversations. He didn't like the man. In truth, he had an aversion to most scientists, but Hojo was especially unpleasant since he was a reminder of his mother.

He looked up when he spoke, apparently to himself, and narrowed his eye as he approached Kadaj. What did that creep want with him? It was always possible he was just a creepy scientist magnet, but Nnoitra doubted it.

[declaregamuza]

Nel felt the approach coming, and she was already eyeing the doorway when Hojo came through it. She hadn't seen him before and he was somehow exactly what she expected, in his white coat and tied back hair that didn't look like he'd washed it today, and yet not what she'd expected at all. He looked younger than she'd pictured, for one, although he wasn't young. He also had terrible posture.

And he stank of cigarette smoke. Nel could smell it from where she sat, and she curled a lip.

She sat up a little straighter when he went up to Kadaj. Kadaj, she knew, could be volatile if pushed. He'd been okay with Even, but Even hadn't walked up to him and looked at him like he was under a microscope. She was on guard for this going badly.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj had finished his toast but failed to move his plate yet when the other scientist walked in. At first, Kadaj did nothing, but then this creepy old man stood right over him and peered at him like he was a zoo specimen.

He leaned back, resisting the urge to stand up and start shouting, for now. This must be Hojo, then. Nnoitra had been right, and Kadaj had exactly ten seconds of experience with the man.

"Do you have a problem?" He asked, in a tone that suggested the follow up question would be whether he wanted one.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel had lingered more to make a point of the fact that he was lingering, and he watched Hojo approach Kadaj, and proceed to study him.

Szayel laced his fingers together with a smirk and rested his chin on them, watching the interaction. He was, admittedly, curious as to what was unmistakable about Kadaj. The eyes, perhaps, or the reiatsu which lurked in the Palace in his absence and was likely present even down in the labs?

[doesthissmellofchloroform]

There was no doubt about it. Those eyes were the giveaway; there were only so many ways to acquire that hint of mako glow to the eyes, and Hojo had personally dealt with the majority that bore them.

"Different attitudes, but that's to be expected," he said, again to himself. "No, boy," he said, finally addressing Kadaj, "there is no problem. I will require a sample from you, however." He put his hand up to his chin as he began to mutter, "I shall have to compare. You're similar enough, but the extent of the deviation needs investigating. A cheek swab should be sufficient."

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra, were he a nicer person, might have cringed at what could potentially befall Professor Hojo at his utterance of those words. He wasn't though, so he just looked up, slightly interested, half wondering if Kadaj was going smack him or not.

Kadaj, even Nnoitra knew, had an few complexes and, because of this, he got the feeling that being called 'boy' and having demands made of him were likely to trigger a few of those, so he sat back and waited for the fireworks.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj got to his feet, for all the difference that made. He wasn't much taller than Hojo stood up, but it at least meant the man wasn't leering creepily over him.

"I don't think so," he said, restraining his rising irritation badly, but managing so far to keep his temper. "I'm not one of your experiments, and I'm not going to be one, so you can back off."

Kadaj was done being poked and prodded in whatever ways a self declared scientist devised. No one was going to control him like Orochimaru had ever again.

[doesthissmellofchloroform]

Hojo laughed. It wasn't a pleasant laugh.

"Nonsense, boy," he said, scathingly. "You already are one." He brushed Kadaj's objections off as if it was coming from a steak objecting to being eaten. "One of mine, in fact. You were going to be the proof that my methodology produced the best results, but your fool mother was too sentimental and I had to make do with what I had."

He smiled, then, seeming genuinely happy. "I never expected to find you again, and of course there are some fundamental differences," he gestured to Kadaj, all of Kadaj, "but I'm sure there are enough similarities to prove my theory."

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel sat up slowly as Hojo talked, his brow furrowing. Hojo was famous for a few experiments, of course, but the most famous ones involving people had been the SOLDIER project, and specifically, work on the SOLDIER first classes.

"Kadaj?" He asked, disbelief evident. "Which project?" He asked, his expression still amazed and confused.

Surely not, right?

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra glanced at Szayel as if he was stupid.

If Kadaj was one of Hojo's experiments, if what he was saying was true, there was only one project he could belong to. The resemblance was obvious, now Nnoitra thought about it. It was what Hojo was apparently famed for and the silver haired and green-eyed appearance was, with the link now mentioned, pretty obvious.

Nnoitra was far more interested in the fact that Hojo had just insulted Kadaj's mother. He didn't know a lot about the kid, but he remembered, from the early days of their residence in the Desert Palace, that Kadaj was ... touchy about that subject.

This was going to be fun.