With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
A familiar sound filled the barracks. -Clop, clop, clop- Was it the sound of an imposing army invading the Seireitei? No. Was it the sound of a giant insect beating its wings against its body? That's just ridiculous. It was the sound of a wise man's subtle walk throughout his journey to better understand the universe. That's a lie, it was just Shunsui.
He grown tired of taking naps in his office. Nanao kept bothering him to do paperwork. He really didn't feel like it. After all, where was the fun in that? There was so much to explore and so much to do in this wide world. Why would he burden himself with paperwork? Okay, he wasn't going to explore or do anything. He just really didn't like paperwork.
As a matter of fact, maybe he could find a lovely lady to flirt with. After all, did he not owe it to the female species to give each of them a shot with him. Frankly, he felt that was true in his heart. Or...maybe that was the sake talking. Whatever, didn't matter. He continued to walk around and smile at passersby looking for just the right lady to entice. The under his hat was just right...all was good.
It would not be too much to say that Ai had been feeling a bit restless since her return to Seireitei. It's difficult for her to measure or discern what is she wants to do or even seek to accomplish now that she was back. She had done many controversial things in the past, and not all made her all that welcome, or at least that is the sense she believed to be there. Albeit that belief of hers was there in the first place because there were things she had done that breaks Seireitei law, or at least did so in the past.
It would further be a lie to say that as a Vizard, that she did not feel a bit weary or apprehensive within Seireitei. Her kind may not be judged as severely by the Shinigami as they once were, recognizing times change and all. Still, there was a hestant sense in her that made worry that an over-eager and overly traditional Shinigami may not take too kindly to her. Typically she was not the sort to actively go out looking for trouble... it just kind of happened to find her from time to time... and maybe from time to time she would happen to welcome it... That's all.
However, it did not escape her notice since coming out of her self-imposed exile she has become a lot more introspective. She used to seldom ruminate on her current issues, and normally would just go with the flow of whatever the hell came her way. These days it is analyze, analyze, analyze... odd because she normally despises being analytical--kills all the fun out of spontenatity and the wonder of chance and randomization. Life tends to be funner when one does not know what might be coming around the corner next.
Speaking of which, that is when it happened--BAM! She was laid out on the ground in daze. The street light towered over in its victory of trouncing from her oblviously walking straight into it. She blinked several times to focus her eyes again, while praying to anything sacred to make the throbbing pain in her head go away.
Lazily sitting up, she placed her right hand on her brow as her left still gripped her zatoichi katana-style zanpakuto in her left. Canting her head to her right a little as she closed her right away as she gazed up at the wood street light, "Ara ara ara... victory is yours this time, lampost... But do not think I won't challenge you to a rematch. Soon."
Shunsui had seen the lovely lady smack into the lamp post. He opened his eyes wide as she fell to the ground because of it. He quickened his pace to check on her. After all, what better way to converse than to help a lady to her feet? He neared her and saw that she was quite ready to sit up and say a couple of threats to the lamp post.
He cocked his head to the side curiously. That was rather odd. Of course, an odd girl could be quite refreshing. His hat shifted on his head slightly as he held that pose. She hadn't noticed him yet. He quickly thought of the best way to approach her. Was there a best way to approach a woman? No? They were all shit-tons of trouble who should never be approached? Forget you nameless narrator.
As he neared the sitting damsel, Shunsui's walk increased in a jovial swing. He looked as if he didn't have a care in the world. It was quite awkward to watch, but he didn't really care about that. He outstretched a hand to her and smiled. His eyes closed slightly as the sun was beaming directly into his eyes.
"Might I help up the lovely lady? After all, a rematch with the lamp post might be best attempted with legs to stand on."
Ai blinked in reaction to the Captain offering a helping hand to her. He was certainly kind, but certainly was good at giving a line to lady. Her eyes narrowed a little as if amusement had drained from them. "You are just a little bit too smooth...", she remarked with a distrusting regard. But then placed her hand into his letting him help her up off the ground back onto her feet.
Once back onto her, she glanced at the lampost from her peripheral. With a sudden gleaming flash of a blade swiftly being drawn and sheathed swifter than the normal eye could follow--the wooden lampost slid and tipped over having been clean split into by a backslash judging by the angle of the cut that cleft it. She then pointed her sheathed zatoichi style zanpakuto katana at the chopped in half lampost damningly, "Victory is mine, lampost. Next time don't get in a lady's way when she's walkin'."
She then turned to the Captain and blinked a second, perhaps at this point at last recognizing that he is not just a Captain--but which Captain he is. At first she was hesitant to state her name, after all--hers is not one always met with pleasantries. Given the family this Captain is from, she was not exactly certain how he would react to her as well. Would he be aware of her, or just another who had forgotten her name? Well... there was only one way to find out.
"Ai Kyouraku... Captain... I rejoined Squad 8 not too long ago under your command."
Shunsui opened his eyes slightly and looked down at her. She was just paranoid. Obviously there was no way that she actually wasn't at the very least pleased at his appearance. After all, it was easier to get up when a nice man helped you. He figured that she was simply upset that he had seen her little moment. With a small smile he helped her up as she mainly pulled on him. It was only the gentlemanly thing to do, after all.
He simply watched on as the young woman cut up her former adversary. Okay, it was a lamp post. This lady was crazy. Like, substantially crazy. However, a little crazy could sometimes be a good thing. Sometimes. He was getting a better look at her now. That was Ai...she was in his clan as well. He thought for a second and ensured that there was no blood relation. Good, he didn't have to feel distraught over her absence. If he remembered correctly, she was a Vizard.
She began to talk about how she rejoined 8th squad. All he could really do was smile at this. Did she really think that he didn't know? Oh well, such things were prone to happen. After all, the lovely lady was still upset about her run in with the lamp post.
"Ai, I already know about your return to the squad. I may not be on top of everything...but things like that they actually run by me. Well, they run by Nanao who then tells me. But, that's beside the point. What matters is that you're back."
Ai's brow furrowed a little, "I see... The impression that some of your peers left me with was... ehh... Nanao runs the entire show.", but she then dismissively chuckled in the next instant, "But I'm not exactly in a position to judge anyone."
With a quick glance she looked the 8th Captain up and down, and canted her head a little. A smirk formed on her visage as she remarked, "You're ambidextrious.", both her brows raising with a lighthearted smile, "I guess the families within the Kyouraku noble house do not train their children all that differently from one another.", she then lifted both her hands to chest level, her palms facing Shunsui, revealing both are equally as calloused as his are on either hand.
Blithely seh gave a bit of a goofy chortle-snort as she remarked, "Not all that surprising. Nothing Seireitei changes very often. Before returning, last time I set foot here was... well... about two centuries ago...", she started off a little pensively for a second, but then in the next instance returned to a carefee nature and went on to say, "Barely anything seems to ever change here. Yah' come, yah' go... doesn't matter, you'll always know home will remain familiar for your return."
Shunsui's mind kind of...well, no kind of about it. It drifted out as soon as Ai started talking about peers. He looked up at and saw what appeared to be a bird. No wait, it was a cloud that looked like a bird. It was a pretty cloud-bird. How nice. You didn't see too many cloud-birds around nowadays. He would have to tell Jushiro about this. Seeing a cloud-bird was serious stuff.
However, he looked back down after the cloud passed when Ai called him ambidextrous. He checked his hands and tried to think of how she could have arrived at that conclusion. It wasn't even the right conclusion but it was still puzzling. Wait...she was pretty, he didn't care. And, he didn't dare correct her. He simply smiled at her and nodded happily.
"That's very observant. Most people don't even notice that whilst training with me."
The Captain did not listen to her talk about how nothing had ever changed. Well, he went in and out. He was kind of...distracted. Not really he was actually taking many mini naps will standing. He was a little tired. Nursing a hangover was not the best preface for meeting new people.
"In an existence that is ever changing, isn't it a good thing that the Seireitei will always be the same? I think it's quite comforting that we can always depend on this place to be the same. No matter what happens, we will always have that stability."
"That's very observant. Most people don't even notice that whilst training with me."
Ai crossed her arms under her chest when he said, she was a little surprised to tell the truth, and remarked upon why she was, "Any swordsman worth their salt should know by gazing upon another swordsman's hands. How ones callouses form on their hands can tell you a great deal. Whether they are lenient to one or two handed form, and which hands are favored or if favored at all. Callouses on their knuckles in turn will indicate how often they like to engage in hand to hand, and if they prefer to do so more than engage with a blade."
She then flippantly shrugged with a smirk, "If you have to engage an opponent just to determine anything about them... then you're doing it wrong.", she goes on to as she smiles a little slyly, "But from what I've heard about you... you know this already.", but then playfully flippantly shrugs it off as she remarks, "Yet... contradictory to all of that... most times it's best not to concern oneself over such things. It's often more fun just to dive headlong into things blindly and discover the spice of life--the spontenatiry of the moment. Too much analyzing can take away from the fun of the moment."
"In an existence that is ever changing, isn't it a good thing that the Seireitei will always be the same? I think it's quite comforting that we can always depend on this place to be the same. No matter what happens, we will always have that stability."
"That's what I'm beginning to understand now.", she said a little solemnly, though whole trying her best to conceal it with her general lackadaisical attitude, "In the past... a part of me used to hate it for that very reason... though it was mostly driven by fear at that ime... But what were the reasoning for those fears seem to no longer exist. Now, I guess I can at last find some measure of comfort this place is much like I remember it so many years ago."
"Any swordsman worth their salt should know by gazing upon another swordsman's hands."
Shunsui smiled. She seemed quite confident about her abilities as a swordsman. That was good, he supposed. It was always nice to be confident in your abilities. However, it was the responsibility not to get over-confident lest you get cocky and end up leading to your own downfall. Wait, that was off on a tangent, where did that even come from? Of course, the sake.
Then he heard her talking about him and analyzing the opponent. It was true, he really didn't have to fight someone to know all that much about them. However, then she began to talk about how analyzing got in the way and how sometimes it was just best to fight. She began to talk about how going in headlong and half-cocked was better for "the moment." This lovely lady had it all wrong. It was never good to fight unless you had to.
"Ai, I think you've got it all wrong. It's never a good thing to not weigh the consequences of your actions. That could easily result in too much violence. It's best to never to fight, but always be prepared to. Because the moment you start fighting, you've already lost."
The mood shifted as she realized the truth about the Seireitei. Its job was to be the pillar upon which things could rely. If it changed too much, it would lose that function as a pillar. Shunsui listened to her as she talked about how she appreciated it now. That was good, it was always nice for someone to see eye-to-eye with him.
"I'm glad that you can see it that way. I've always felt it was in the Seireitei's nature to remain a symbol of stability throughout the chaos of the existence around it. Everything is always changing, but we don't. Because we have to be the pillar. Does that make sense dear? Sometimes I can find myself ranting because of the sake."
"Ai, I think you've got it all wrong. It's never a good thing to not weigh the consequences of your actions. That could easily result in too much violence. It's best to never to fight, but always be prepared to. Because the moment you start fighting, you've already lost."
Ai's eyes widened with a head tilt, leading to her letting out a bit of a laugh as she scratched the back of her head a little embarrassed, and quickly lightheartedly clarified, "Yare yare... Seems I accidently gave you misdirections there. Caused you to take what I said and turn right rather than going straight ahead. It's not like I'm saying a person should go out there and pick a fight anywhere and anytime they get one. That's just all around stupidity. Jus' saying if one finds themselves in the unfortunate circumstance--just experience it for what it is. Have fun with it."
She let out a little bit of chuckle as she went on, "If everything is always all serious-pants, you're looking at one cheerless existence. Like the Kuchiki noble house. My god--the rod up their ass has a rod up its ass!", she then paused for a second realizing her point was getting away from her, and snickered at herself as she got herself back on track, "Whether it be life or battle, over-analytical thinking kills the joy of experience. Make the best of the unknown, find the fun in the randomization, see the beauty of the chaotic experience life has chosen to show you."
An amused grunt escaped her when she heard herself say that last line as it sounded like something Kaizen would say. Thankfully she has chosen to be quiet lately. With a flippant shrug, and a carefree smile she went on to close by saying, "But--ah, maybe I'm just full of crap."
