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

[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.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt, now looking thoroughly tetchy, threw Grimmjow a glance. "Rao, E ghuf E's dra faygacd Espada, pnu, pid ev cra fyhdc du yld mega cra'c cilr y vilgehk aqband eh fryd E cruimt pa ypma du payd cra cruimt dno ed rancamv," he groused. "Syopa kaddehk ran ufh ycc gelgat femm ghulg cusa uv dra pedlr uid uv ran."

It seemed unlikely, but it was always worth a shot. The fact was, Kadaj was faster than he remembered, and adding a second sword to that speed meant Kadaj had the ability to be a torrent of bladed attacks. He was a real pain in the ass to fight against, now.

[joinmyreunion]

"Actually," Kadaj said, speaking to Apache in a toned down version of his appealing-to-adults voice, "I would like to spar against you sometime." He shrugged a little, offering her a small smile. "It's not all about strength, I need to work against different fighting styles, too."

He'd never seen Apache fight, but that would just mean he had to think on his feet if he went up against her. It'd be an interesting, and useful, challenge.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya could tell Apache was getting pissed off, and the fact that Yylfordt had just been bitching about her in another language wasn't going to help.

She looked at him, sourly. "Not everyone in the room speaks Al Bhed, dickhead, don't use it to hide when you're calling people shit." That just made him sound like a pussy as far as she was concerned.

[cierva]

Apache heard Kadaj out, but turned to Tayuya before she responded to him, snapping every word.

"He only speaks in it around me so he can insult me without me knowing what he's saying," she snarled. "He ain't brave enough to insult me in a language I can understand."

She took a breath in through her nose, short and irritated, and released it through gritted teeth before turning back to Kadaj.

"I mostly fight unarmed," she said, giving a shrug. "Dunno how much use I'll be training against you."

[jawmask]

Grimmjow managed, against all the odds, not to wince when Yylfordt launched into his Al Bhed tirade about his Fracción. He was about to open his mouth to tell him to knock it off, when Tayuya did it for him. She got pissed off when they spoke Al Bhed when the common language would suffice, too.

He did wince when Apache snapped at Tayuya about him. He knew that Yylfordt wasn't going to let that go.

He wasn't sure how good Apache would be against Kadaj, either. She was a strong fighter, surprisingly so, from what he had seen, but most of her abilities were Hollow-based. He did, however, know that she was lightning-fast. That might be useful, if nothing else.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt rolled his eyes and turned to glare at Apache, his expression sour and irritated. "I called you a bitch, okay? 'Pedlr' means 'bitch', you'll hear it a lot."

It wasn't, exactly, that Yylfordt didn't want Apache to know what he was saying about her. It was more than he was sick of arguing, and Al Bhed was his first language, so it came easily when he wanted to say something without continuing the argument.

But Apache was pissing him off. "If you're such a vilgehk expert you should try getting your own ass kicked. It might do you some good to get some training in."

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj shook his head at Yylfordt's outburst, and he didn't press the issue of sparring with Apache again.

"The point isn't to kick someone's ass, Yylfordt," he said, wearily. He found himself longing for the calm if uncomfortable environment of Even's office. At least there he'd managed to have a conversation without someone else making it a contest of egos.

[cierva]

Apache gritted her teeth again. "I'm supposed to train against you, jackass."

But ... that hardly ever happened and all of the other Arrancar were considered too high-level for her to be put up against. She was never going to get stronger at this rate.

"No wonder that never happens," she spat. "You're too worried about your ego getting bruised."

[palehornedprince]

"My ego's just fine," Yylfordt retorted, "I just don't beat up girls."

And not because they'd beat him, either. Yylfordt just had too much respect for people like his mom to be able to swing a sword or throw a punch at a girl without feeling guilty as hell about it afterwards.

It was different if said girl was actively trying to kill you, but if they weren't....

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya curled her upper lip. "Now I wanna kick your fucking ass for saying that," she told Yylfordt.

"You fucking know what, Apache?" She asked, turning to her friend in a moment of solidarity, "We need to fuck off out and leave this fucktard behind for once, and then when we come back, you should kick his ass and Kadaj's."