Lousy Subordinates!

It was a beautiful day in the Seiretei. The birds were singing, the sun was warm, and grass was practically begging to be laid on. It was one of those days where you forget about your troubles and you just sit back and take a well deserved break. You might take out some nice food and have a picnic or just enjoy the down time with some tea or sake. You honestly could not feel gloomy on such a wonderful day.

However, to actually get that feeling you needed to go outside in the first place.

The inside of the captain's office in the 11th division by contrast was anything but warm and cheery. Captain Zafaron sat at his desk staring at the small mountain of paperwork he had received. The air around had almost frozen to match with cold fury that was emanating from the large man. As he leafed through the various papers he could not stop his facial muscles twitching due to being forced for so long into a terrifying scowl. Most people would flee at the sight of him in this state and even some of his subordinates had made sure to stay away from his office or be blown away by the bloodlust that seeped through the walls.

Part of his fury was based on the fact that he had paperwork in general. He loathed having to deal with the, in his opinion, ridiculous files and status updates and requests for data about everything and anything. But today his wrath was directed, not at the letters and requests themselves, but at the idiocy of his subordinates.

He understood that the members of his company were mostly a bunch of hot-headed children. He understood that "self-control" and "forethought" were not in most of their dictionaries and lord help them if they actually showed "restraint". He also understood that most of them got really restless if they didn't have something to do. He even understood the rationale, or lack of it, in constantly messing with fourth company. They have to make sure that everyone knows that are so strong and macho and wonderful to compensate for several things after all.

But the stupidity documented in front of him was insane, even for his company. "Damage to third companie's barracks, harassing of members of seventh company, harassing of the lieutenant of 11th company," he couldn't help but smile at that one "Large amounts of destruction in several eating facilities, disregard for superior's orders, the theft of several zanpakuto, the bullying of and injuring of several fourth company members, and the seeming inability to complete even basic jobs.

He sat back in his seat in wonder. They gave me a bunch of morons. I have never heard of a group this bad. And it isn't even the more experienced ones who at least have battle skills to back it up. It is all of these new recruits. What, am I the deposit site for the failures now? Something has got to be done but what?

He heard some footsteps coming towards his office. He could guess exactly who they belonged to.

Miyuki rubbed the bridge of her nose as she worked to forestall the headache budding there. There had been a noticeable drop in the quality of the shinigami coming out of the Academy lately; something that wasn't isolated to just her division. And dealing with the lot of whiny brats was starting to wear thin on whatever patience she had left. Something had to be done and for the lesson to stick, it had to be brutal. Luckily she had just the thing in mind.

Zafaron sighed to himself and got up from his desk. The nice part about the paperwork that he had been given was that it was mostly just requests to do something about the idiots rather than things he actually had to fill out. Some of them were even pretty apologetic as it seems that this was a problem that several of the divisions were dealing with. He didn't like that a lot of people were pushing the responsibility on him but he figured that was just the way the ball rolled. He had the most experience with knocking the newbies into line so they automatically thought that he would know what to do.

"Unfortunately I don't have that many ideas of how to go about this. If it was just my division I would probably do something like tie the offenders up and let everybody doodle on them or something humiliating like that. And if that didn't work I would try to literally beat some sense into them and remind them why I am the captain and why they are the rookies. But I doubt the other divisions are going to let me just beat up their members." He stopped talking to himself for a moment as he thought about that. "Actually they might but I would still have to ask permission first and that is a hassle. Might not even work anyways."

Only one thing left to do, he thought to himself as he picked up a stack of paper in his hand. Hadou #4, Byakurai! However, instead of the lightning attack that should have occurred the attack exploded in his face incinerating the paper and covering him in soot. He actually could perform the attack if he really concentrated but he figured that blowing stuff up was always a fun way to get rid of stress. He quickly wiped off the soot from his face and out of his fabulous mustache before stretching a little. It was time to talk to Miyuki.

Miyuki hid a fleeting smile as she watched her captain blow up paperwork in his face. He might be her captain and superior, but he was still one of her boys; annoying as hell some (most) of the time, but lovable none the less. "I think that I just might have the solution to our little problem..."

"Then I would love to hear whatever ideas you have. I am nearly at the point of pulling out my hair in frustration over this insanity." Then he thought for a second as he yanked on one of the hardened, tangled, soot covered pieces of his hair. "Well I would if it wasn't for the fact that I think it has petrified over the month. But I do have to ask before you begin, will this plan involve badly injuring the idiots? Because due to your... constant... reminders of how badly they have been harassing you I have to make sure you haven't just decided to throw them off a building or something. And sadly I don't think the other captains would approve of that. Despite their lack of brains they still need to be useable for combat."

"That does seem to be an inherent problem with my idea" she began with a thoughtful look on her face, "There is a considerable risk involved, and I'll be honest; not all the recruits will make it through alive. But" and this was a major but, "if they don't survive then it just means that they weren't cut out to be shinigami in the first place"

Zafaron narrowed his eyes slightly at his lieutenant. He understood how aggravated she was about the situation with the rookies and that they had been driving her nuts. However, no one should ever utter the phrase "they won't all make it through alive" without a powerful reason. And this trouble was not even remotely close to warranting her saying it. It was completely absurd and in a way aggravated him more than the actions of the rookies. Hearing it as a joke from a random soldier would be bad enough, but from a lieutenant?

He sighed and looked at her sharply. "Sometimes you surprise me. I tend to forget how young and immature you actually are, but this is a perfect example. 'It just means that they weren't cut out for it in the first place?' What gives you the right to endanger their lives just because they are incompetent? They are still soldiers under our command and it is our job to make sure they learn to be an asset to the Seiretei, not put them in a situation that could get them killed on the off chance that it might make them more focused. If we did stuff like that then some of our strongest shinigami might never have made it because it took them awhile to improve and fit into the Gotei 13 properly.

"Now I will let you actually explain your idea but be warned that I am going to be holding Mr. Veto-Hammer while you do so. As he said this he bent down and picked up a large hammer that was hidden under his desk. The hammer, as its name suggested, basically had a large rubber block at the end of it with the word VETO carved into it. He used it whenever he was faced with idiotic ideas from his subordinates that he couldn't respond to in any other way. It was also a good deterrence as people were less likely to bring up terrible ideas to him when they ran the risk of him using it. Miyuki had experienced it before so he doubted she would like it repeated.

I mean, what possible idea do you have that would endanger them that you think the Captains would approve of? What are you planning on doing, putting them in a pit with some hollows so they can get some life-or-death battle experience? He chuckled a little before his laughter suddenly stopped. He looked down at her worriedly. "That isn't your plan is it?"

"Because it's their job? And if they can't handle a measly hollow or three than they have no business being shingami?" she said in reference to his earlier question about her right to endanger them "And the idea was to drop them into a real combat situation; not a alone in a pit and possibly outnumbered, but as a group with a few senior division members to keep an eye on things and help out where needed provided the grunts do the bulk of the work next time we get called in to clean out a mass of hollows."

"Don't get me wrong Miyuki, I understand where you are coming from. It would seem that if a shinigami is incompetent then it is his or her own fault. But that is not the actual case." He set the veto hammer down and sat back behind his desk. Her idea wasn't terrible, it was just looking at the problem from an incorrect approach. He laced his fingers together and looked at her seriously.

"As the leadership of the Gotei 13, it is our duty and responsibility to make our soldiers as effective as they can be. If one of our subordinates is unruly or has difficulty in fighting we need to be the ones to make them improve. It is the burden of leadership. If a shinigami fails to put in the work then it is not just their failure but also ours, because we did not give them the incentive. If this continues then it is also our job to find a better place for them where they can be the most efficient."

"So we have no right to say that 'if they can't handle a measly hollow then they have no business being shinigami.' Instead we have to say 'if they can't handle a measly hollow then WE have no business being leaders.' Just throwing them into a large battle, even one supervised by other high ranking shinigami, is not sufficient. Actually, it has a high chance of backfiring. Some who are not ready for a battle that is above their capabilities may give up due to fear or hopelessness even if they might eventually become stronger. Others that do well may get an even larger swelled head then before and then we will never be able to get them to listen."

"What we need instead is to find some way to get them to realize their need to listen to us without actually having them fight. Something that will make it so that they will realize that we are the gateway to them becoming strong. Something-" Suddenly he cut off as his eyes widened. He held up a hand to stave off any comments from Miyuki. He could feel the gears in his head quickly spin as an idea came to him. "I think I just came up with an idea that would be able to effectively combine my feelings about how to treat our subordinates with your plan. If you have any other comments then quickly say them or I will explain my idea. After that we can talk with some of the other captains. While most of the troublemakers are in my division, this is a Soul Society wide problem. Thus I would need to get approval from others anyways regardless of what plan we go with."

"Oh?" Miyuki asked, curious. This new method of dealing with the new recruits unsettled her. She had lived her life under what had been the unspoken honor code of the 11th: back your shit up, work for your place in the pack, tease and squabble all you want but god help the fucker that tried to mess with one of your brothers (or sisters); they were Family, fight hard for your own sake and no one else's, don't dishonor the people (or hollows) you kill by looking away and rendering them nameless, don't let the fucker who kills you do the same - at least give them your name to remember even if they won't look you in the eye, scars remind you that you're still alive even if you fucked up and sometimes dying just happens, you gotta do what you gotta do. And if that made her an old dinosaur that stuck to the old school ways, then so be it. It was her way and it was good enough for her.

He could tell that Miyuki found his explanation a lot different then how she saw her job. However, as she didn't have any more comments he began. "I am sure you know the way this company usually works. Everybody starts out at the grunt level and slowly progresses. You do menial jobs at the beginning because you are the weakest and you respect those that are stronger. Because you are weaker, you listen and are taught by those that are stronger. As you get stronger you go up the ranks. You work hard, you gain respect from those below you. If you don't work hard someone passes by you and you have to work harder to regain the respect you once had. You show respect to your superiors, to your friends, and to your enemies. This is also why we learn our enemies' names and give our own. It is all about respect."

"Due to this usually we don't need to actually work with the newer members that much. Most are propelled by an internal drive to become stronger and to gain the respect of the other shinigami. So the burden of leadership on 11th company is pretty damn light. We don't need to put in a ton of extra time, they do that for us. And as they practice they gain the powerful love of battle that we are known for and the process continues unabated."

He cracked his neck back and forth. "However, respect is still a fundamental part of this cycle and this is what these rookies are lacking. They are lacking respect for their superiors and believe that they should have respect despite them not having done any thing yet. Thus they ignore orders, harass other companies, and act like pompous idiots. The question is, how do you get them to respect their superiors."

"You can try your way which makes the rookies fight some hollows to realize they are not all that. But as I said before, there are flaws with that idea. Or you can try to just spar with them to show them how much stronger you are then them. But that doesn't reinforce the idea enough. After all, you may show them that you are 100 times stronger then them but that doesn't prove that they are weak. After all, I may be 100 times more powerful but it could be that they are still ten times stronger then a hollow. They need to compare themselves and us to their enemies to completely understand their place."

"So this is my idea. It mostly involves switching yours around. Instead of having the rookies fight the hollows with the higher ranked members supervising, have the higher ranked members fight the hollows with the rookies as an audience. You could even make it into a bit of a show. But then the rookies get to have an idea of how powerful the hollows are without having to be put into the danger and without the risks of them giving up or becoming even more egotistical. And they get to see just how much powerful their superiors are."

"Then, hopefully, they will understand why they have not earned respect from us yet and why they need to work hard to gain it. Then the problem should subside." He stopped for a minute to see if there was anything else he could think of. "What do you think about this idea?"

((Jeez. I am writing a freaking book in this topic.))

"I don't see how that'll work when getting the shit beat out of them by said same superiors, or watching their superiors beating the tar out of each other in a 'friendly squable' hasn't worked. I mean, they've seen us fight. Hell, they've fought us; and it hasn't done a damn thing for their attitude"


[[yeah; seems that way. on a side note, you wanna see the fic that's been a big influence for miyu's attitude towards the division?]]

((Sorry for getting in your conversation,but you should know that you cannot be in two places at the same time,you are at 13th division's hq or 11th division?If I am wrong then just ignore this post and continue rping ))

((Well the topic in 13th division, the PARTY one, doesn't actually have to happening at the same time as this conversation. Since that topic was basically made to make up for the fact that Risa called herself a fukataicho for awhile, you could say that it doesn't have to be at the exact time continuity as this one. In the end it doesn't matter exactly WHEN that promotion occurred so I have been thinking of it occurring before this current topic.))

Zafaron frowned for a minute as he thought of how to get her to understand. He thought he had explained it well but he still needed a different approach. After a moment he took out a large piece of paper. He drew a long line down it. "Perhaps it would be better if I make a diagram of it. So lets give a hollow a power level of 10." He drew a little hollow mask with the number ten on it about a tenth of the way up the line. "Now lets say that you have a power level of 50 and I have a power level of 100. I'm just making up numbers by the way, they don't actually matter." As he said this he wrote Miyuki's name about halfway up the page and his name at the very top.

"Now from this crude sketch you can see that I am about twice as powerful as you. However, does that really matter? In the end you are still five times more powerful then a hollow. So even though I could defeat you easily, you can also still do your job easily. This is the thought process the rookies are using. As some have never actually fought a hollow, they can't accurately figure out where there power level is in comparison to a hollow." He scratched out the hollows image and number and wrote 'rookie' near the bottom of the page with a number five next to it.

"So lets say that we have a rookie who has a power level of five. That shows he is ten times weaker then you and twenty times weaker than me. But for all he knows, a hollow might have a power level of 1 or a power level of 100. He has no idea how he actually compares. Unfortunately, his ego makes him assume that he is much stronger then the hollow. So one of the necessary steps is that they see some hollows and finally be able to accept that they need to work hard so that they will survive in the future. No need to reiterate my feelings about them actually fighting but just observing a battle will have other benefits."

"While all of these rookies like fighting, most of them have not had a true love of battle awakened. They have not even seen a true life-or-death battle yet and thus have not felt the thrill of it, the powerful emotions that it conveys in your very blood! But actually battling is not the only way to get that feeling. Sometimes you just need to see a true battle, not a sparring match between two captains, but an actual battle with real risks. The sounds, the sights, the bloodlust, the perfect movements between opponents to create a terrifying dance of death. All of these can make you want to pick up a sword and battle as well."

"When these rookies see a true battle they will want to fight as well. But they will also have realized that they need to get stronger or they are going to get killed. So they hopefully will finally put two and two together. If they want to be strong and be able to soak in the furious destruction that is a battle, they need to listen to us, work hard and get stronger. Then the usual cycle will finally start working again. Then with their egos are crushed quite a bit, the egos of the rest of their class in other divisions will also have to go down. After all, 11th division is almost always is the most egotistical division. So if they get knocked down several pegs, they are going to make sure everyone else in other divisions also gets knocked down. Thus everything will balance out and we will return to the way things usually are."

"Altogether I can't see any problems with this idea but maybe I am overlooking something. Do you see any problems?"

"I'm still not seeing how it'd work, but that could just be some sort of mental block on my end. I just can't wrap my head around how watching one of their superiors take out a hollow is gonna knock them down a peg and beat it into their head that they aren't hot shit, when watching said the same superiors take on each other or beat the crap out of them doesn't. I mean sure, when I was back in the Academy I went on that field trip to watch a hollow test hunts; but I was an underclassman then and once I got closer to graduating myself, I was one of the upperclassmen being tested during that field trip for the lower classes; so I came into this division having already faced a hollow in battle - even if the battle was as controlled as the instructors could make it"

"Well the main problem seems to be that the Academy has been dropping the ball. Many of these rookies have never even SEEN a hollow before. Perhaps it is because a lot of hollows are staying deeper and deeper in Hueco Mundo or maybe it is because the Academy is trying something new that isn't working."

"But regardless, let me try one more way of explaining." This was going to be his last time explaining. He was getting slightly annoyed that his explanation seemed to be flying over her head. He had even drawn diagrams for crying out loud! "It will be quick this time. Imagine you are a rookie. Which of these would be more effective at showing you that you need to work a lot harder? Being put into a controlled fight situation with a hollow that you are able to get through with some injuries. Or watching your Captain fight a strong hollow and realize that if you were fighting it, you would have been killed twenty times over in a matter of seconds."

"And before you say 'well they already have had the captains beat the crap out of them, why doesn't that work?' let me reiterate. I can beat the crap out of YOU Miyuki. But does that mean you can't kill hollows? Of course not. Same basic concept with the rookies. I can beat the crap out of them, but in their minds they can still beat the crap out of hollows. And that is all that matters to them, being able to kill hollows."

((Oh yeah, and send me that fic. Send me a message with it or a link to it please.))

"The controlled hollow fight." Miyuki answered honestly. It was one thing to see or hear how powerful something was; it was another thing to feel the weight of it against your blade. Or at least that's how she saw things, and it was clear that she saw things in a different way than her captain. Hell, they didn't even see the current problem the same way. To her it was more of an all around attitude problem amongst the lowest ranks (although there were a few exceptions), to him it was a strength and ego problem.

Zafaron just threw his hands up in the air with a sigh. He wasn't going to get anywhere trying to get Miyuki to see the way he saw things. Their thoughts seemed to be on completely different wavelengths. Perhaps it was because of her rank. While she was the lieutenant and had a bit of a closer connection with the rookies, it also meant she was blinded by her feelings more and looked to their attitude as the problem. On the other hand, he was higher up and could see the deeper root of the issue.

"Alright then. This is where I pull the '125 years of captaincy experience' card. I have seen problem groups like this one before, my own group was actually very similar just on a lesser level, and I have a pretty good idea of how these rookies minds are working. But this is a problem that needs more than one captain's decision regardless of what we end up doing. And the more opinions you get, the better consensus you will end up with." He got up from his seat and walked towards her. "So how about we take a trip to one of the other companies so we can finally get this thing finished?"

"Alright" Miyuki was still pretty skeptical about her captain's plan. But she'd be willing to see things out; maybe he was right, but then again maybe he was wrong. And if all else failed, there was that lovely boot camp idea she heard about once in the world of the living.

((sorry I haven't responded yet. I made a pact with one of my friends that I would talk with him as the first captain I talk to about the rookies. But he is slow making his profile for 8th captain. He should be done tomorrow.))

"Let's see. Who would be available right now." Zafaron looked to the ceiling for a bit deciding where they would start. "Well Captain Yoshio tends to not be very busy. Don't know if that is because he is efficient, doesn't have a lot of work to do, or if he just avoids it but in any case he would probably be willing to talk for a bit. Get his opinion on the matter. Might as well go now, I really want to get this done with."

He walked out of his office warned one of his subordinates, a useful one this time, that he would be out for a bit and to just leave any paperwork on his desk. Then he strode out of the building towards the third division barracks.

((My friend took to long. I'll talk with him at a later date.))