Here I stand

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj had given Hojo a wide berth.

It hadn't been that hard. Hojo had seemed to be extending him the same courtesy, but Kadaj wasn't taking chances. He'd been vigilant so far about following Even's advice and trying to leave as little trace of himself behind as he could. Nel helped, too, making sure he got his things washed and returned to his room quickly, and his crockery and utensils were quickly washed, or at least put in to soak. She'd bought him some bleach, too, and showed him how to soak his toothbrush and hairbrush in it so that, if Hojo did break into his room, he probably wouldn't get anything useful anyway.

It was weird and unpleasant to try and live while being mindful of everything you might leave behind for someone unscrupulous to collect evidence without your consent, but Kadaj felt like he was managing.

He'd also taken to training his bankai against Yylfordt. Not the full of its abilities, of course; he wasn't about to flash those around in the Palace, but improving the techniques he'd learned while he was out in the world was useful. Yylfordt wasn't as difficult as Kyuzo had been, but he had more brute force to put into a fight, and he used different tactics, even if they did mostly consist of relying on brute force.

Kadaj couldn't beat him consistently yet, but he was getting there. He'd be able to beat Yylfordt without taking a scratch if he used Reunion, of course, but he needed to keep training at dual wielding. He could practice Reunion out in the wider world, away from prying eyes, on Fiends that people wanted destroyed and the Gotei squads hadn't got around to yet.

Still, Kadaj was running up against a snag that he knew was going to be a solid wall in the way of his training. Yylfordt used brute force, yes, and Kadaj had to use his speed to circumvent that, but eventually he'd come up against someone that could use magic, or that he couldn't defeat without using magic himself, and that was when Kadaj was going to struggle.

He could ask Gin. Gin he was fairly sure would have taught him before now if he'd asked, but Kadaj would rather not end up owing Gin a lot of favours, and a part of him knew it wasn't smart to let Gin know every single ability he had in his arsenal. Plus, Gin would probably respect him more for finding another way.

Kuja had tried, but Kadaj had got frustrated easily, and tantrums had usually ensued if Kuja continued to push him, and Kuja's patience had worn thin. Kadaj had ended up learning every one of Kuja's favourite plays and poems by heart, because that was easier than learning to read them, and he'd mentioned no more about learning magic since.

He could ask Aizen, but Kadaj was wary of admitting such a weakness to Aizen. Ienzo wasn't to be considered. Nel was nice, but Kadaj wasn't sure of how she'd be as a teacher, and anyway, going to someone else's subordinates with a weakness was as bad as going to them.

Then Even had come along, and Kadaj had been set to hate him because they'd fought each other in the past, but he'd found that, really, he didn't. Even was a bit stuck up, sure, but he'd also been almost nice in the face of Hojo's interest in Kadaj. Kadaj had since afforded him respect, and Even had been respectful in return, which was new territory for Kadaj. If he was honest, he kind of liked Even, in the same way that he liked Nel.

So it was in this atmosphere of growing respect and the sown seeds of affability that Kadaj, after a training session with Yylfordt and subsequent shower, went to track Even down. It wasn't a safe conversation to have in the kitchen, or somewhere else public, so Kadaj want to find Even in his own quarters. He'd made his home, so to speak, in a distant end of the Palace, where no one else really went. They hadn't known it was here before Even came, or at least, they'd known it was here but hadn't known how to get to it, and had little reason to venture down here now. As a result, the whole area felt like Even. The rest of the Palace was a mishmash of other reiatsu signatures, but here was as definitely Even's domain as Orochimaru's labs had been his, and as Kuja's quarters were his.

Kadaj felt like an intruder in someone else's territory, and he knocked politely when he could feel Even on the other side of a door in that unmistakable sense of glaciers and icicles emanating from beyond it as if you could open it onto winter.

Comments

[thechillyacademic]

Even spent his days and half of his nights either sitting in the kitchen and drinking tea or sequestered away in his new quarters.

He didn't quite have a laboratory yet, but he was getting there. The rooms were spotlessly clean, the tiles were in place where he needed tiles to be and he had finally acquired some fixtures and furniture. The past week had also seen a power source routed in, if not a water supply. That would come later. Power was a better start since it meant that he could work during the night hours, after the daylight had ceased to stream in through the narrow basement windows at the tops of some of the rooms. Water could be carried, power could not.

The wing where his workspace was located was largely empty. The servants quarters were in around the same area, in that the long corridor that stretched from Even's lab lead to the same hallway that one had to travel down in order to reach the stairs down to them, but other than sharing that intersection he was completely alone and he rather liked it that way.

Even had acquired four rooms in total. The central one was spacious enough, but ultimately useless, for it was positioned to act like little more than a hallway. It was also, quite unfortunately, rather irregularly shaped and lacking in any windows. The corridor to the rest of the palace and the three other rooms all connected to that one. The room at the most extreme end of the hall was the largest and was destined to become his laboratory once he had the equipment for it. The third room, an L-shaped affair, was big enough for him to have considered making it into a sleeping area, but he had ultimately decided against it in favour of keeping his room in the palace proper. Being able to separate himself from his work, he told himself, was a good thing. He would find another use for it, no doubt.

The last and smallest of the four, windowless and unworkable before he was able to get a light installed, had been converted into an office. It was there where he was seated at his desk, a notebook open in front of him and a lamp lit against the gloom, when he heard the door knock. His brow furrowed as he finished off the line he was writing. He didn't get visitors. Not even Ienzo ventured down unless he had asked him to and he wasn't sure that Marluxia knew where to find him at all, not from the inside. He got to his feet, leaving his notebook open and the pen on top, and made his way to the hall.

The door between the corridor and his new lair was locked.

He wasn't sure he liked the idea of only a key standing between him and whoever could lurk outside, not after Marluxia's pet had made such short work of picking the lock at Daguerreo, but he had few alternatives at present. He intended to research making Glyphs, the sort that were found in Cloisters of Trials in numerous Ivalician temples, but that wasn't set to be easy. It was a lost art, but he didn't see why it couldn't be found again. There had to be something written down about them somewhere.

With a soft huff he unlocked the door and blinked at who stood on the other side. Whoever he expected to see there, it was not Kadaj.

They seemed to have reached a polite understanding since their initial tense meeting, but Even wasn't sure that mere politeness was enough to have invited Kadaj down to where nobody else dared to tread. As well as being private, it was uninviting. The long corridor that lead out to his quarters remained unlit, like the rest of the wing had been prior to his obtaining a generator, and Even's reiatsu had seeped into the rooms under his ownership like it had nowhere else in the palace. They were not cold, not really, but something about the atmosphere was enough to make most people shiver as though they had been caught in an icy draft.

"Kadaj," he said, surprise as evident in his voice as it was on his face. "Can I help you?"

[joinmyreunion]

This close, and with no one else in the vicinity, Even looked much taller and more imposing, and Kadaj felt more vulnerable. Kadaj had only ever been short, and slight, but he'd not really spoken to Even when he was on his feet before, either.

"That's nearly what I was going to ask," Kadaj murmured, softly.

How did you open a conversation like this? Well, you didn't do it standing in a corridor.

"Can I come in?" He asked, "Please?"

They probably wouldn't be overheard if they discussed the matter here, of course, but Kadaj had been in Khamja long enough to know to be careful. The walls had ears, and eyes, and sometimes they didn't even need those.

He'd left Souba locked in his room. It had been a conscious choice; normally he carried her practically everywhere, leaving her behind was like leaving behind a limb, but he hadn't wanted to go tracking down Even while armed. Something like that could give someone the wrong impression, and a wrong impression could go badly for everyone concerned.

It wasn't helping with how vulnerable and awkward he felt right now, though. The conversation he was set to have was going to be awkward and vulnerable enough. He was twenty one, a member of Khamja, he had bankai and he'd killed Orochimaru with it, but stood in front of Even right now he felt about twelve.

[thechillyacademic]

Even's eyebrows shot up a fraction.

He needed help? That, he hadn't anticipated. He wasn't sure what he thought he was going to say, but a question of help was not part of any half-formed scenario he had managed to concoct in the time between his question and Kadaj's answer. He stood for a second, and his eyes narrowed a little, as much in confusion as suspicion.

Then he looked him over, just with a quick glance, and saw that he wasn't armed. That was a relief. He didn't want to have to deal with that possibility at all.

"Certainly," he said, his voice polite, but slightly wary.

He stood back from the door enough to allow Kadaj to go through it. Not many people had sought to enter his new domain and Even had not expected to ever see Kadaj in it. The boy had a natural distrust of scientists -- unsurprising considering what he had been through -- so he had never considered any scenario where he would willingly walk into a laboratory, even one unfurnished, especially occupied by him.

Kadaj seemed unsure, Even noticed. He had grown used to him walking around like nothing scared him, like he had nothing to fear from anybody, so seeing him looking so cautious, and sounding so earnest, seemed unusual.

[joinmyreunion]

"Thanks," Kadaj said, still quiet, before he walked through the doorway and into a place that could have been the heart of Macalania temple for the way it felt.

He waited for Even to close the door before he spoke again, fighting the urge to fidget as he did. "I know we're not exactly allies," he said, understating the extent of their animosity before Hojo had showed up, "but you've been helpful where Hojo's concerned." Not just helpful, really, he'd gone so far as to stand up for Kadaj's right to be something other than an experiment.

"There's something else I need help with," he said, looking at Even, noticing that his vividly green eyes were nearly as unusual as Kadaj's own, faintly glowing, mutated ones, "and I think you might be the best person to help me." There was a question in the tone, and in Kadaj's expression.

He hadn't been told to go away yet, that at least was a good sign.

[thechillyacademic]

Even closed the door and listened to him speak.

Given the way that their paths had crossed prior to Kadaj's return to the palace, Even knew that coming here, to him, in need of help, must have been a very difficult decision to make. He seemed confident enough, he looked to be enjoying what he had been informed was a new found independence and, due to his age, strength and improved skills, he bordered on arrogant. To admit a need for help was almost like admitting weakness, and to do that in front of a former enemy took nerve.

Even didn't cross his arms as he listened. It wasn't that he didn't want to look defensive, as that gesture often did, it was more that he wanted to avoid coming across as impatient. He didn't want to scare him off.

"I can definitely try," he said. "Why don't you come into my office? We can talk there."

Kadaj reaching out to him, of all people, had made him curious.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj tried not to be too relieved. Even was at least going to hear him out, which was progress in the right direction. He nodded his agreement, glad to move even further away from the door, and followed Even.

These labs, he noticed, weren't really labs, at least not yet. The smell of fresh grout gave away recent tiling nearby, and there was a distinct lack of the slightly acidic smells Kadaj had come to associate with laboratories. Smells of ammonia, and bleach, and blood, and sweat, smells which now brought forth uncomfortable memories, and were thankfully absent here.

He stood politely just inside the door of the office, waiting to be invited to take a seat before he made any move to do so, just in case such an invite never came. It was dark in this room, lacking natural light, although the artificial one was doing its best it wasn't hard to tell the difference.

[thechillyacademic]

The room that Even had adopted as an office was smaller than the other two, not that Kadaj could see much of them through their doors on the way there, but not too small.

There was space for a desk, a chair, a selection of bookcases that he had re-purposed from the room's previous, ancient use and a sideboard. There was also an alcove near the rear of it, back in the corridor's direction, that he had filled with bookshelves. They were empty, as were the bookcases, for the most part, but it had not long been renovated and there was plenty of time to make it feel like home.

"Take a seat," Even said, indicating his chair at the desk.

There was only one. He hadn't anticipated holding meetings of any sort in the little room, nor entertaining visitors, so the notion of getting a second had never crossed his mind. Nevertheless, he let Kadaj sit. Should the conversation become lengthy or protracted, it would be easier for the taller of the two to perch on the edge of the desk.

[joinmyreunion]

Even seemed intent on making this room his personal library. Kadaj dimly recalled Aizen responding to the discovery of the weather machine, and the gardens outside, with shutting off all the new natural light in the Palace's main library. It must be a book thing, he decided.

He sat in Even's chair at the desk a little warily. From this vantage point, Even seemed even taller.

He'd killed Orochimaru, and that was where this had all begun. He'd killed Orochimaru, which had meant he now had to think about every step he made from here on, and part of that was making sure he could look after himself against the rest of the clan.

"You know I have bankai," he began, glancing at Even, and then staring at the desk instead because it was easier to speak to that. Everyone knew he had bankai by now, and there had been coos and twitters that it was a dual wielding one, because they were unusual, but no one except Kadaj's friends, and Gin, and Nnoitra knew about the other abilities it came with or Kadaj wouldn't still be alive now. "I've learned it recently, I've learned a lot of things recently," he admitted. "I was never much good at real chakra control before, but I learned," he had to learn, really.

"There's one thing I still can't get," he said, trying not to squirm, looking at the table, and then looking at Even, "and I need it if I'm going to survive." He looked away again before he finally said, out loud, "I can't do magic." He scowled. "I know some bits, but nothing very strong, just enough that I can use some of the spellsword abilities. But that's all."

This time he made himself look directly at Even, assessing his expression before he explained, "I've been in Khamja since I was fourteen. I've stayed alive by being useful, or not being a threat, but that won't last much longer, and this is something I can't teach myself."

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj walked slowly to the sunhouse, deep in thought. He found that he liked Even, in the same way that he liked Nel. Nel was calm, and patient, and kind to him, without talking down to him. Even had been the same, and it had made Kadaj feel like he'd been listened to. They didn't really know each other yet, outside of a few interactions, but Kadaj felt like he'd gained, if not an ally then, a confidante.

It was different to his friendship with Tayuya, which was grounded in mutual experiences and a longstanding crush Kadaj had gotten over shortly before Grimmjow had entered their lives. It was very different from his relationship with Grimmjow, in which Kadaj kept secrets because Grimmjow used his fists before his brain, and while Kadaj mostly trusted him not to hurt him there was always that sense that he was, in some way, Grimmjow's territory. There was Kuja, whom Kadaj adored despite himself but these days trusted little, a fact which hurt and Kadaj didn't want to voice. Then there was Gin. Who Kadaj trusted more than he trusted most of the others, but only in the sense that he trusted Gin to be up to something far beyond Kadaj's comprehension, in which Kadaj may or may not be a pawn, but somewhere along the line of Gin's grander machinations he'd found the time to prod Kadaj in the direction to growing stronger and more independent and more able, even if he hadn't led him down that path by the hand. Which meant that, in a weird way, Kadaj also trusted Gin not to be out to hurt him, although that always left the possibility that Kadaj may be hurt as an unhappy byproduct of something Gin was doing.

There was Nnoitra, who Kadaj had loathed, but their mutual hatred of Orochimaru had brought them together to ensure his demise, and that had fostered geniality between the two of them. The geniality was there with Even, too. It had no right to be, but since Hojo had intruded, and Even had supported him with advice, Kadaj had been more kindly disposed towards Even. He'd had to take some time out to think and accept that their issue with Even, and the berserker, was mostly a game of tit for tat, borne of each side wanting to protect their own against the other. Kadaj didn't actually have any fight with Even, and it wasn't fair to hold a group enmity against the berserker over Even's head when they were no longer associated.

Tayuya had explained about that part. Even and the berserker had split up, and Even had joined Khamja. Kadaj doubted he'd joined solely by his own choice; he'd have been presented with options, and one of them would have been 'or we kill you'. Kadaj was familiar enough with how Khamja worked for that one. If someone in Khamja really, really wanted him, it wouldn't have been a simple 'or we kill you', it would have been 'or we kill you, everyone you love, and everyone they love, and we'll leave you until last'. Even seemed intent on making the most of it, but Kadaj doubted he'd have come running to Khamja as his first choice after splitting from the others, because who in their right mind would?

He was lost in this train of thought when he entered the sunhouse, where Grimmjow and the others who were part of their little group lurked. Yylfordt was nursing his injured pride after being beaten by Kadaj on their sparring session this morning, but Kadaj didn't think the victory meant much, yet. He wasn't yet beating Yylfordt every time they sparred.

Once he did, he'd move on up a tier and try a different Arrancar, which put Luppi next on Kadaj's hit list. Or maybe he'd invite Apache along for the ride in sessions with Yylfordt first. It might be better preparation for taking on Luppi.

[cierva]

Apache was bored.

Until a bit after Yylfordt had returned from his training session with Kadaj, she had been playing cards with Grimmjow and Tayuya. It was always a risky thing to do in their group. All of them were competitive and that meant that little arguments tended to break out if they went too long playing.

Grimmjow had made an executive decision to take a break and Apache had agreed to it, despite having won the last two games.

When Kadaj entered, she was flopped in one of the chairs, feet up on the seat, looking out over the grounds in the dimming light. Evening was upon them, or, at least, evening was upon whichever area of the world the palace got its false sky from. Pink and orange light bled over the sprawling, ruin-dotted plain that the palace considered 'gardens' and made everything up against it look ink black and eerie. If she squinted, she could see malboros wiggling in the distance.

[jawmask]

Grimmjow was strongly considering dinner.

It was getting late and, with the card games put on hold, he was getting bored. He wanted to get out of the palace. It was all right for a while, but after enough weeks shut in one building, even one with gardens, the familiar sensation of monotony laced with borderline cabin fever started to creep in again.

He looked up when Kadaj pushed the door open.

It could only be Kadaj. Nobody else dared to come into their little sunhouse, the semicircular glass conservatory they had discovered. Nobody except Nel, anyway, and even then she was likely to knock.

"Hey," he said. "Nice job beatin' up Yylfordt."

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya had played card games until she'd got angry. Then they'd decided card games were better in short doses, and Tayuya had practiced her flute, trying out a version of some pop songs. She didn't have perfect pitch herself, but a little practice had led to her being able to produce a recognisable version of one of the hits by an Al Bhed starlet that was mostly about being a fucking psychopath in relationships.

Tayuya was quite fond of the song, herself.

She'd started to wonder where Kadaj had got to when he finally showed up, and she put her flute down and grinned at him. "Yeah, he's been licking his wounds all evening," she added, to Grimmjow's comment.

[palehornedprince]

"Fuck off," Yylfordt said, testily, at both of them. He'd had to down a potion for a quick heal, but his option had been that, or go to Nel and hope she wouldn't try and spit wash any of his minor cuts away. He didn't have any in interesting enough places to let her do that.

"You ever been hit with a real zanpakuto?" He said, looking at Grimmjow, clearly grumpy, and still a little defensive. Then he shrugged, "He won't get me next time."

[joinmyreunion]

"I will," Kadaj answered, looking at Yylfordt, and then flashing a smile at Grimmjow. His approval of Kadaj's progress meant a lot to Kadaj, not least because he was the strongest of all of them. "It's fun smacking a Granz about," he said. Especially after what Szayel had been like the last time Kadaj had spoken to him; making Yylfordt bleed had been cathartic because they had the same face.

[jawmask]

"Why do you think we have a scoring system for his brother?" Grimmjow said, grinning.

He couldn't help but find Yylfordt's unhappiness with getting his butt kicked funny. Yylfordt was a decent swordsman, but he'd picked up the blade relatively late in is life. Before signing up for the Arrancar program, he had spent much of his time fiddling with machina, not weaponry.

Grimmjow had not, in fact, ever been hit with a real Zanpakuto. He wasn't sure whether it would feel differently to being hit with a regular blade when he was released to some level, but he tended to view fights, including sparring matches, as an exercise in avoiding being hit, so he had no sympathy for his friend on that front. Well, he had a tiny bit, but only because Kadaj was a dual wielder.

[cierva]

Apache dragged her eyes away from the sight of the landscape beyond the glass and turned her attention to the conversation. Yylfordt had taken his defeat by Kadaj personally, hadn't he? Well, good.

"Maybe it should be more like training for both of you," she said, flatly, and with a pointed look at Yylfordt. "You're supposed to be an Espada. That's supposed to make you Captain level and you got your ass kicked by him..?"

Kadaj was doing well on the fighting front, but there was no way he was a captain-level Zanpakuto wielder, Bankai or not. It took more than attaining Bankai to reach those lofty heights. He might have made a half decent lieutenant, but if that was the case, Yylfordt should have been able to beat him.

Apache scowled about it. They didn't have the Gotei 13 where she was from, but she'd learned all about it, and where the Arrancar stood in relation to them, from others while she'd been left behind. The Espada she answered to being beaten by a kid who'd not long got his Bankai was embarrassing.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt threw Apache a glower. He wasn't quite sure what pissed him off more, that she was being a bitch about Kadaj beating him, or that he was getting openly backchatted by his Fracción.

"I am a vilgehk Espada," he told her, "but I was fighting with a mask, and he was fighting with bankai, so keep your mouth shut."

The mask gave him a boost, sure, but it wasn't the same as being in full release. "I'm doing the kid a favour." One that he was slightly starting to regret. Kadaj was fast, two swords were a pain in the ass, and Kadaj's newly developed skills with chakra control also meant he had better stamina. Yylfordt didn't like losing. He'd accepted that he was the weakest Espada, weaker even than Szayel which had stung the most, but finding Kadaj now also set for being stronger than him sucked.

He didn't need some pedlro ycc underling getting snippy with him, too.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj grinned brightly at Grimmjow's comment, and then turned his attention to Yylfordt. It sounded like he'd wounded someone's pride more than he'd wounded him generally; his cuts had been minor, and he might have a couple of bruises to contend with where Kadaj had landed a kick, but it wasn't enough to do real damage, at least not to someone with hierro of any degree.

"I'll take you full release next time," he said, calmly, and matter-of-factly. Part of him wanted Yylfordt to endure his defeat properly, and part of him was eager to move on to tougher and stronger matches.

He'd pushed Yylfordt, but he could probably push himself further.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya rolled her eyes and muttered, "Boys."

They were being boys. Kadaj was being a little shit, although she understood why, and Yylfordt was being a sensitive little shit about the fact he'd been beaten.

Kadaj had killed Orochimaru. He'd planned to kill Orochimaru, and because he hadn't been able to do it on his own, he'd recruited help. If Yylfordt thought Kadaj was going to go down easily in these sparring sessions he was an idiot. Being a dumb shit that took on people too big for him was half of what Kadaj was.

[cierva]

Apache glared back at Yylfordt, but kept her mouth shut.

It was when he acted like a dick this way that she wished that she'd been foisted on somebody else as their Fracción. Grimmjow, or Nel, or somebody higher up than the lowest rung of the Espada ladder.

A favour, hah. By providing him with a punching bag, maybe.

[jawmask]

Grimmjow wondered if a released Yylfordt would be harder or easier for Kadaj to beat than otherwise. Yylfordt was strong, but he was all about brute strength. He could cero something into ash, sure, but he was slow when he was fully released and Kadaj was not. He would present a bigger target and most of his abilities weren't for sparring, they were for killing.

"Yeah, well don't get ahead of yourself," he said to Kadaj, smirking. "I don't want to have to kick your ass too soon."

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj smiled at what Grimmjow said, and made himself comfortable in one of the chairs. "Don't worry," he said, "there's Luppi and Wonderweiss before you." He intended on skipping Szayel, though. Not because he didn't want to beat Szayel up, a lot, but because he didn't want Szayel to be able to study him during a session or two. Szayel was that bit too analytical for Kadaj to trust him.

He might end up facing Grimmjow sooner rather than later, he thought, but only because Wonderweiss wasn't used to fighting. He wouldn't be easy, but his repertoire might be smaller.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt threw Kadaj a challenging look. "You're on," he told him, "and let me know when you intend to take on Luppi. I wanna see that."

Luppi had a nasty release that would, admittedly, be really good for training Kadaj's brand of dual wielding against, but still, it was a nasty release.

"You should add her to your list, too," he said, jabbing his thumb in Apache's direction with a sneer. If she was such a fucking expert she could get her ass handed to her by Kadaj, too.

[cierva]

"Yeah," Apache said. "'cos there's nothing like having your subordinate beaten up to show what a hardass you are, right?"

She flipped Yylfordt off, glaring at him with what looked suspiciously like loathing for a moment.

It irritated her that Yylfordt was being a pussy about being beaten up by somebody, but suggesting that that same somebody take his turn with her, just to make him feel better? She thought that was pretty low.

"You wanna see me get my ass kicked, you can do it yourself." She snapped. "I'd sooner take my chances with you than Kadaj."

[jawmask]

"Chill out," Grimmjow said, looking at Yylfordt more than Apache when he said it. "So you got beaten, and what? It still makes you one of the ... what? Top hundred or so fighters in Spira?."

If not, it was a pretty close run thing. The Gotei Captains, the Kages, the absurdly powerful individuals, like Kuja, the Mist Swordsmen, Ryoka, combat-ready members of Khamja and Akatsuki... regardless of whether Kadaj beat Yylfordt or not, he was still pretty up there in the grand scheme of things.

Somebody having a Bankai was rare. It was a requirement of Captaincy in the Gotei 13, with one notable exception, and there weren't many lieutenants that could boast having their own. That Yylfordt stood against somebody with one made him absurdly powerful by normal people standards, even if Kadaj was new to it and not yet at Captain level himself.