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It was a quiet morning.

The house was as quiet as it had been for the past several hundred years, with the general exception of when a few people stayed over for various reasons. No sounds seemed to echo throughout the halls of the home while fish in the pond before the house swam quietly to their hearts content. Only the sound of the wind seemed to carry any sort of voice around the area, gently blowing the numerous flowers that gave the Household a life in and of itself. Someone could easily call this area, or at least compare it, a Ghost town. Perhaps it would seem much better if there were children running around with their mother scolding them or even a handful of servants to go around to clean and gossip. Maybe once upon a time, the house was purposed to have these things. Times change.

However, there were those individuals that would find a solace within the quiet confines that the Tsurugi House provided even with perhaps prior desires for it. And such an individual was currently waking up to the gentle whistle of the wind in his ears.

A yawn. A groan. Rustling the bedsheets around, the man that was held captive by the bed's clutches slowly came to a stand. He stretched in his semi-nude glory, the pair of briefs being the only article of clothing he wore as he strove to become more aware of his surroundings. It certainly did not take long to do so however, as the blurry world slowly but surely came into focus and gave him the alertness that he so desired. His limbs stretched outward, cracking as they rose from the position of sleep that they had become accustomed to over the night and he leaned backward, his back popping as his vertebrae formed an almost perfect arch. That was better. No more immediately noticeable pressure in his body.

Eko Domini Tsurugi began his day almost the same way he did every other day. To begin with, the man spent an hour performing yoga to ease his body into whatever the day would bring towards him, bending his limbs with his eyes closed while his body felt the euphoria of being relieved of tension. It was a normal past time that he never skipped. The second thing he started with was a light breakfast in his robes that he had so come to love over the years, a pipe on his lips as he prepared it. The device was not lit but he liked to keep the keepsake from his Grandfather around him in the house, which he still held in his mouth as he took his small breakfast and tea out with him to the front of the lake, retrieving a scroll as well as soon as he had set the other things down.

It was here that he merely sat in the grass with a small wooden table in front him with the things he had brought, drinking his tea and eating breakfast while looking over a scroll in front of the reflective pond, where koi fish swam around in an almost stereotypical fashion. His three zanpakutos lay to the right side of the table as he himself continued to divulge in the scroll over the basic news that Captains were expected to know as well as another based more with knowledge in training. Frogs began to croak quietly as well as the cicadas began to thrum with the beginning of the day.

It was almost paradise.

He had been up last night, some prisoners had been commissioned into his care and as always, it was a pain in the a** that he alone had to handle. It was just so ridiculous how much paperwork two prisoners could create, ON TOP OF the fact that there was some transfers into his Division which he had to verify and blah, blah blah, blah blah. Needless to say, the Division Two Captain had divulged in some of the ancient Tsurugi finer things, which were the famous vats of wine that were sealed in his basement. There was just so much of the damn liquid that he figured why not have a little bit, it wasn't like he drank it a lot anyway except for when he was celebrating and Hinata wouldn't touch the stuff. It was famous for a reason, and it generally messed people up. Eko himself still only had one glass and his body was berating him the next day, whether he knew it or not at that current moment.

He simply lay there in his rocking chair, his black hair covering his eyes as his pipe smouldered in his mouth, the wood tip still touching his lips. The paperwork was scattered all over the place on the table next to him and that single glass of wine still lay next to him on his hand table, it's contents ALMOST empty. His snores were what he considered gentle but the rest of the world would think a sleeping dragon, or as Hinata so lovingly put it, a walrus. Personally, Eko liked the thought of dragon more...just for the obvious reasons.

However, Eko was blissfully unaware of his best friend sneaking into his house, just as she normally did (and was generally the only one other than when Rei visited). Blissful was perhaps the best way to describe it as the chair continued to rock gently, and his face relaxed. However, it was as Hinata leaned in that something inside began to irk him. His face tensed up and a small whine seemed to come from him, as if his body was well aware that he was in for a hell of a ride, tensing up to prepare his body for the pain his hangover would bring.

"GAH!"

To say the pain in his head was spliting would be an understatement. To say his reaction was less than entertaining would be a lie. Not many would get to see the Second Division Captain jump in surprise, his legs lashing out as his hands went straight to his head as the pain lashed out from the center of his head to fill all of it. However, his eyes were narrowed in mock anger as he recovered, finally standing up with one hand to his head, the brain pounding it seemed.

"Hina-Chan! Why?! How many times do you plan on giving me a heartattack today? Mark one down!" It was almost comical, as he leaned in his eyes glaring at the shorter woman, a playful but pained light in his eyes. He was happy to see her though, but he knew that it would be a start of a long day...What....um...what was supposed to go on today? He couldn't recall...

"Hey! I was also doing paper work! Not that you would know...." He ended his sentence in a grumble, ignoring his own horrid nickname that the two often bantered back and forth with. Inside though, Eko was smiling and it was even touching upon the edges of his firm frown as he followed the feline like woman into the kitchen, still biting on the tip of his pipe while watching Hinata go about trying to fix her normal remedy for whenever he tried that bastardly liquor that he had in his basement. "Did you happen to pick the lock again?"

Of course he knew the answer, but it was almost a routine line that he said whenever she barged into his house and he wasn't awake. His eyes watched her tail as he walked by her, gently stroking the tail to the tip while he reached out and grasped two tea cups and started to boil water for his own cup of tea and to make Hinata some as well, his own sweet little concoction that he generally made for the two of them. The tea bags he made himself, using some of the ingredients he grew in his own gardens. "I put your ingredients in the cupboard above the oven." His own eyes didn't watch her as he said this, but his shadow stretched out, lightly tapping her tail as it swung near it.

HE knew it was coming. As soon as he passed her and grasped the tea cups, The paper struck him and he winced at the contact, not so much the pain, but at the suddeness. Was it painful? Not really, it was just residual pain from the contact. Even as Hinata apologized, Eko merely kept that small smile that was slowly forming. No matter how many times he did it, and no matter how many times she hit him, he always smiled at her. He couldn't help it really. She brought out the WORST in him.

As she licked his head, he shivered a little at the rough texture before she moved onward to doing what she had been prior. "Mm...a fruity camamille I've been experimenting with. A little fruitier than the last cup that we had." However, that devilish style still remained as the shadow showed to be his own tail, his own wings still sealed in the back of...his back. He really had no use for htem anymore sadly, only using them for intimidation or even then, he had only used it when he was slower in his early years. Hardly any use for them. But even as she commented, himself feeling her start a little, he let loose a chuckle.

"I know...but you don't hate it." There was a teasing in his voice, and he just loved getting her to react the same way she loved to tease him for similar results. Oh, what a toxic pair they could be.

"Funny, that's the first time you've called me that versus me of you." His voice was low and chuckling as the tea finished itself, his eyes looking over her face. "I however, am all natural." Another low chuckle there, "By the way, you have a little pink on your face, Hinata." It was there he stopped for a moment, as he looked into those eyes. It was funny. He was either called Shadow or The Dragon by those outside his squad but he definitely seemed to take after a dragon in ways. Especially with those gems for eyes that Hinata had. To say they were alluring would perhaps be an understatement. However, breaking his trance, he walked with the cups of tea, as well as the entire pot carried via tail, out onto the patio that overlooked the misty pond.

It was quiet as normal as he sat down, placing HInata and his cups across eachother on the small round table that he had outside. The actual pot was placed int eh middle, the sugar and honey already placed with the pot as well. Eko merely sat down as he awaited his Lieutenant, her chair already pulled out for her as he looked over the pond, the flowers blooming as he let loose another small smile. To say he was proud of this land was an understatement. It was one of the few things that he worked on diligently outside of work. "Is there anything important going on today? I can't seem to recall if there was anything I cared REMOTELY about, going on with everyone today."

Eko merely kept his eyes closed as he heard Hinata sit down, his hair billowing in the slight breeze that filled the area. He took the balm as soon as she mentioned it, ingesting it appropriately with a small yawn as he then lifted his own steaming cup of tea and drank it calmly, the hot liquid cooling his throat from the cottonmouth he was experiencing prior. "Mmm..." His eyes merely watched Hinata as he chuckled, looking at her antics as she waved her arms around. "Maggots nest..." Eko was not a big fan of the place. But he moved on. "Did the Squad forgive me yet for the training last week? Let alone the new recruits then..." He doubted it. It had been a hell in the Moving Lands last week, Eko drilling his company hard and without mercy. Jisaku had ranted at him for an hour about the condition his squad was in.

"Misaki..." His murmured the voice as Hinata said her name, her niece. She had been a subject of interest certainly, one of the more capable members of his squad. "Would you recommend fourth or third seat? I've been toying with the idea of her accompanying me and getting her situated for a position of authority. Then again, I've also been toying with training with her myself, and you can be included too. She needs endurance training. And she needs to be able to interact with the other Divisions on a much more competent..." His eyes looked towards Hinata with a narrow look as she commented on him. "I am not that bad....at least not anymore! I go out! I socialize! I even went out to eat with Jisaku at Shoten. I've grown out of it AT LEAST a little bit. Give me some credit, Hina."

His eyes were still narrowed as he awaited for his friends response, "Didn't we agree last week that we intend to live forever? I thought I made that clear and law within the division." His face turned back to that small smile, himself unable to contain it as he looked out at the pond. "It's good with honey. It's also good with a little...stuff." Like Booze. "But I've found it's good with any sweetener really."

He looked back towards Hinata as he drank more of his tea, placing more in his cup. "I think Yagari wanted to do something today as well..."

He caught on to her game. His eyes narrowed at her as he realized it, his smile growing a slyer tone to it as he finally figured out what she had done. "You make me rant too often, Kitty Cat." He said this thought out loud, but he certainly meant it. She often got him to go on long rants about things that bothered him or were piquing his mind at that point in time. A skill that she abused to constantly make him look silly when in his company...which was most of the time.

He took another drink from his cup as he thought about the subjects more. "Mm...it's just troublesome." His eyes flickered down at the table before moving back up towards her face once more. "I go easy on them though!" His face and voice feigned offense as he chuckled on the inside, "But perhaps you're right...they need a break from Hide and Go Seek." That was Eko's favorite method of training...and not one that many liked to play. It was more or less what it sounded like but it took place in the Moving Lands...and Eko didn't play nice. Of course, he never used any abilities but even just physically he played rough. In reality, his Zanpakuto abilities were hardly worthy of Division Two standards...not even really at all but the look on her face as she finished her talk about training made Eko look at her quizzically. He wouldn't get an answer about the look she made but it still intrigued him.

But moving on to her niece, Eko took another drink of the tea as he felt the hangover subside from the balm she had made. "I want to put her at seventh. It's higher than you recommend...but I want to gauge her. In reality, I want her to assist you and me. It'd be the best way to get her into how the Division works and would allow us, and us meaning you as I'm horrible at studying people, to perhaps find what makes her tick. She interests me." But as he listened to her finish talking about secrets, Eko's face became...nostalgic. It lost its happy demeanor and became much more placid, more calm. It was like the surface of a pond, with anything looking like it could ripple the surface.

"We all repress something..." His voice came out soft, as if it were a thought, but something that whether he knew it or not, Hinata would likely not miss. It took a minute, but as he shook off those thoughts, he went back to the subject of Yagari.

"Probably...yeah, it was a spar. Jasmine and Rei were wanting it to be an event of sorts, I think, so I imagine it will be in the Division Eleven Facilities where everyone can watch more or less, I guess. It's Yagari's idea, as usual." His face creased as he thought of the fight to come. It had certainly been a while since he had dueled with any Captain. The idea itself seemed to take the Dragon somewhere else just as he thought about Hinata as the bookie again. Looking at her with an eyebrow raised, he responded: "I'm shocked your bookie supplies aren't prepared already! The betting pool will easily be bigger this time, though I do wonder who will be in favor?" Yagari was generally the one in favor in these little spats, but it was always interesting to see the numbers that would come up. "...someone might need to contact Yagari about this thing...for scheduling and all that..."