Chapter 18: Chapter 18:Undercurrents
"So everything is going according to your plan?" A robotic voice boomed inside Ichigo's room, specifically her bracelet.
"Yes lord Ryū, they all bit the bait. We'll finalize our talks with them tomorrow." She replied in a stoic tone.
After hearing my reply, Nero stayed silent the only sounds being strange mechanical movements in the background. Ichigo didn't dare ask what it was. She had long figured out that she'd be told what she needed to know, but her curiously didn't diminish, in fact it only increased since the more she thought she knew about Nero the more she realized he was full of mystery, he was always up to something and he even had technology decades ahead of anything she'd ever seen.
"Good, the I'll leave everything to you, make sure that everything goes well and remember the objective." Nero finally replied.
"As you wish." Came Ichigo's ever monotone reply.
"Beaides that, how do you like your new arm and equipment?"Nero asked, his tone was also lighter and friendly.
"Could I speak freely?" Ichigo probed, she dreaded offending Nero and having to face the consequences.
"Sure." Nero affirmed.
After taking a deep breath, Ichigo steadied herself. Her throat produced an audible gulp as she swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
"I don't doubt the practical use of this equipment, but I feel it makes me look ridiculous and not to be taken seriously. I also feel like you're suddenly acting different from before. I'm wondering what caused this."Ichigo voiced her concerns. Even though she feard Nero, she also knew he was reasonable and highly unlikely to harm her for asking such a question.
A sigh resounded in the room, Nero pondered her question as his humming came from the bracelet.
"I guess you could say it is my newfound respect for you. My newfound attitude towards you is a given. I like people who prove themselves, and so far you've proven your skills, and loyalty so it's a given I'll treat you better than before. However don't let that be the cause for you to stagnate, I like you precisely because you show promise."Nero said with a serious and genuine tone.
As his words registered to Ichigo, she stood in place frozen, her impression of Nero was that he was arrogant, strong and cared for nobody, even if he did claim to care for her before some small part of her believed it was a lie, but when she thought about it clearly, Nero always kept his word for as long as she'd known him.
'No harm could come from trusting him a little more.' Ichigo theorized, he already had her life in his palms, with a snap he could turn her into a shriveled corpse. From her observation Nero was trying to earn her trust through genuine means.
His methods beforeleft much to be desired, since he used fear to rule people. Ichigo saw this as a chance to increase her standing.
"Thank you fir clearing my doubts, I won't fail to live up to your expectations." Ichigo replied, her tone was a bit more genuine and lacked the usual deadpan.
"I know you won't, after this mission I'll require you to come back to base, I need to update your nanites." Nero spoke in an everfriendly tone.
"As you wish, also next time please let me choose how to decorate my weapons." Ichigo changed the subject.
"Oh, I assume you don't like pink and purple stickers on your sword?" Nero asked, Ichigo could swear she saw his visage and his head was tilted.
"It makes doesn't give off the correct image for a soldier like me." Ichigo reasoned.
"Take it from me, if you're good at what you do, even wearing an obnoxious orange costume won't change how people view you." Nero joked as he chuckled amusadly.
"Wouldn't that attract too much attention?the nature of my job closely resembles that of a ninja, bright colors would just make my job harder." Ichigo asked curiously.
"Haaa, fine I'll leave the appearance of your equipment to you, but the guns look cool though." Nero said, Ichigo could swear she heard him sulk a little.
"I like the guns just fine, what worries me are my swords, too many sticker and colorfulness for my liking." Ichigo replied, she never really liked girly and pretty things.
"Okay then, if you have a design in mind just show when.you get back." Neri replied.
"I will." Ichigo sighed in relief after finally getting through to Nero.
"Then keep up the good work." Nero dropped the call.
"Haa, that was surreal, who knew I'd have such a conversation with him of all people." Ichigo mumbled to herself as she got into bed and slept.
....
Meanwhile in the same town in an unknown inn, a woman sat leisurely on her bed. Below her was a chubby man who was bowing before the woman.
She wore a revealing yellow and black kimono, she had weavy shoulder length brown hair, grey eyes and freckles on her cheeks and across her nose bridge, her looks could be considered as cute.Her form was illuminated by the moonlight that showed her tan skin, and long legs. The aura around her radiated a sensual and wild charm.
She crossed her legs as the man below her gave his report, he had attended Ryōshi's gathering and was under her employ.
Once she heard his words, the woman's eyes widened in shock but soon a sinister smile adorned her cute face.
"Hahaha, who knew after all this time news about that strange weapons would show up again?" The woman laughed to herself, her voice chimed beautifully and could ignite Amy man's desire.
"You mean you already know about this ma'am?" The man asked nervously.
"Yeah, you probably don't know, but there was an attack a few months ago, a strange figure clad in armor used similar weapons to take down a team of jounin and escape. Nobody knew their motives, since then bandit and ninja groups alike also suffered attacks. Autopsy reports on the intact bodies show metal fragments and shells that bear similarity with what you just described." The woman said merrily, she was glad that she decided to come here now because it seemed she would meet an interesting individual.
"If you'll excuse me ma'am, I'll retire to my room for the night." The man said respectfully.
The woman waved him off as she went into her own trail of thought.
"Looks like we'll be going to tomorrow's meeting. Rei make start gathering information.Something tells me the man who killed serpernt and was responsible for these random attacks are linked." The woman ordered. A figure swoosh out of the building at blinding speeds after her order.
There was a certain tense atmosphere in the town that night, everyone made their move to try and eliminate their competition. Others started investigating into depth using the information surrounding this event as news reached farther than Nero imagined, this caused a chain reaction as the lord of Soragakure also sent his men to investigate, he was going to war and having such equipment would certainly ease his conquest.
...
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