[1ST DANCE] - Displaced

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

[Shirayuki has been spending a lot of time outside now that the snow has fallen. The wildlife doesn't seem pleased about it and all the birds she's come into contact with have done nothing but squawk irritably over it. It makes sense, she supposes, if it's not supposed to be this cold here. But she is very much enjoying it. It reminds her of home...

But even so, her situation is rather peculiar, and still she's not fully sure what to make of it. There are, at minimum, at least three other shinigami here, and their zanpakuto have not been separated from them. None at all. Only her. Why her? What made her special?

Maybe it was because it was possible with her. She had been unglued from Rukia before. Maybe it was simply just not possible with the others. Those bonds had never been severed as hers and Rukia's had. Maybe that's all the reason there was...

Shirayuki couldn't be sure. She was still bothered by it none the less, and she was dealing with that on top of various sources of guilt and the compulsive need to protect her master, even when they were separated like this.

She rest her face in one hand. She was getting a headache.]

...Perhaps a vacation from all of that fighting and worrying will do me some good.

Comments

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

[She tilts her head to the side, rather confused by his panicking.]

Yes.. I am used to fight. My purpose is to protect my master, be it by offering her advice and guidance, or standing beside her in battle.

Why do you apologize? There is no shame in my purpose.

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

[He refocuses on her, quite surprised he was talking to a sword. But, maybe in this place, this was normal.] Who is your master?

...Its just that...I don't like fighting very much.

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

My master is Kuchiki Rukia.

[This is a fact she seems very proud of.]

She is a shinigami, and quite a fine one at that. We have come a long way together.

[She smiles, crouching down so she is closer to his height.]

There is nothing wrong with seeking to avoid violence. If I could, I would keep Rukia-sama away from fights, and anything that could hurt her. But it is not my place to make her decisions for her, so the best I can do is advise, and protect.

But peace is a wonderful thing, and it is noble to desire it.

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

A shinigami?

Oh. I want to do the same for those I care about.

[...] I know its not that simple, though.

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

We protect the dead. We send spirits who have died to Soul Society, and purify hollows.

You are a good child. Very wise for someone your age. Most your age are blind in their idealism...

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

[It takes him a minute to absorb that.] Spirits of the dead are taken to Soul Society? Is it a resting ground?

I...used to only want to help accomplish a goal..but after seeing the result of it, I realized that I wanted something different. I guess that's when I wanted to change my view of the world.

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

I suppose you could call it that. I don't know how to describe it well as I've never actually seen it. This is my first time being outside of someone and not being dormant.

[She gives a very calm, gentle smile.]

That is how we all learn, and become stronger.

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

Being outside of someone?

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

I am a sword. I belong to my master, and usually, I reside within her soul.

We have been separated a few times before, but I have never manifest outside before.

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

I never knew something like that was possible.

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

Of course not. You are still alive.

[She doesn't say this in a particularly patronizing manner, but she does state it as if it were the simplest fact in the world.]

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

Huh? What do you mean?

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

The living are not shinigami, they rarely even know of them, and therefore do not have or know about zanpakuto.

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

[blinking] Zan..pa..kuto? Is that a kind of power source for the shinigami?

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

It is what my kind are... Swords... Living blades born to protect and guide our masters. They are as much our power as we are theirs.

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

Were you separated from your master when you were brought here?

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

My master is here, but we were not together when I awoke by the shore. It wasn't until a bit later that she found me. The odd part, is that we come from different times. I have seen things she has not. There is a large amount of time between what she last remembers and what I do.

There are other shinigami here -- At least three. -- and none of them have had their zanpakuto separated from them like Rukia-sama and I.

All of it concerns me.

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

Only you two? Maybe it has something to do with this place...but that wouldn't explain why only you and miss Rukia were the only ones who didn't stay connected.

I wish we knew who brought us here, it'd be easier to ask her if she were around.

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

The only reason I can come up with is that she and I have been separated before.

Kurosaki seems to think it's that "Lady Eureka" likes me more than the other three zanpakuto, but that seems ridiculous.

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

Its common for you to be separated?

He thinks because she favors you, she gave you your own body? I wonder...[That did sound a bit silly, but maybe this 'Lady Eureka' did have the power to do that.]

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

No.. Really, it shouldn't be possible. Not under normal circumstances. It happened once before, but I wasn't placed outside. I simply was transferred into Kurosaki's soul for a period of time.

That's what he thinks, but I can't imagine why I would be special... Senbonzakura is far more powerful than I am, and if this Kurosaki and Shiba's zanpakuto are anything like Zangetsu and Nejibana were, then between the three of them, there's no reason to choose me.

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

Miss Shiba?! I met her. I think she said she was a friend of your master. You all must have come here together then, right?

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

The circumstances surrounding Shiba-san are.. odd. Her and Kurosaki both. They are not the people we knew. Not exactly.

No, we've all arrived separately from each other, and from different periods of time. It's alarming but I am trying to take things one step at a time. At the very least, it's comforting that everyone that has arrived has been someone close to Rukia-sama and not someone who is a threat.

[watersprout.insanejournal.com]

Oh, okay. Well, I haven't met the man you mentioned, but I have met miss Shiba and she is a good person.

[his face brightens] Miss Rukia is okay then, isn't she?

[thebravestbird.insanejournal.com]

If she is anything like the Shiba-dono we knew, I am not surprised to hear it. I did not know the Shiba Kukaku where Rukia-sama and I came from. Things were.. slightly different for us.

[She smiles and nods.]

Rukia-sama is fine. She is safe and unharmed, and she is getting to know people here in order to form a group effort to find a way back to our respective homes.