tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; June 5th, evening and night
Rating; PG at most
Characters; Rangiku and Sode no Shirayuki
Summary; Rangiku's given a dubious gift thanks to a certain angel. She spends the night talking to her.
Log;

The rooftop was warm under Rangiku's feet as she paced across it, a slim form held in her careful grip. Walter had given the blade to her a little while before and for a long time, she just looked at it. The form was different enough from her own beloved Haineko, but she knew it would be. Haineko had fit so perfectly in her hand after so long together... she would've known the hilt just by touch.

Still silent, she settled in her usual thinking spot; a blanket spread several feet from the edge so she could sit, either watching the sky or in quiet meditation. Centuries of practice made it easy for her to drop into that precious peace. After several minutes of stillness, she focused her power, not just her wavering reiatsu, and called the blade's spirit.

“I would speak with you, if you wish it...”

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A faint glow from the silent blade was the only initial response. Cold, silent as the ice that was her power, Sode no Shirayuki lay on the blanket, steel gleaming in the light. The spirit heard, recognized, and answered.

But she answered with her silence, her assent that it was not in fact her master who called her. The faint wavering of spirit that spoke of her presence was tense, strained, angry. But it was a cold anger, a smoldering icy one that bled resentment to being ripped from the hand she was bound to.

If there was anyone truly watching over her, she never moved or spoke, merely stared down at the blade. After the spirit initially rejected her first try, she carefully withdrew her invasive presence, then opened up her own mind to the spirit, still battered from the severed bond.

"Haineko liked you a great deal... She used to tell me you were one of the most graceful she knew."

A momentary silence, then the soft glow increased as the blade shifted seamlessly into it's shining white shikai form.

"And she once spoke that you were one who possessed respect, Matsumoto-sama. Perhaps she was wrong? Or is there another reason you keep me from my mistress?"

The voice was soft, lilting, threading through her mind like cool stream water winding its way through rocks in a riverbed. And yet, for all it's softness, it possessed an edge to it, that of honed ice tempered to sharpness, kept strictly in check with a graceful ease.

Ran stared over the shimmering form, eyes a little sad at the chiding from the spirit bound to her friend. With a sigh, she looked away from the figure, her gaze dropping to the tense fingers curled around the sheathe of the blade she was speaking to.

"I haven't heard from Rukia since she was taken by the arrancar. I spent the other night looking for her, but... I wasn't able to find her. If I knew where or how she was, you can be certain you'd be with her."

Slowly, she laid Sode no Shirayuki's saya in front of her and clasped her hands in her lap, stilling them.

"I know what it's like to be without a zanpakutou.... I wouldn't want Rukia to have to know how it is as well."

"I see."

The glow increased and the blade's form faded away. In it's place sat a young girl, seeming nearly ageless in her ethereal quality, snowy white hair pooling around her, skin nearly as white as the strands.

"Matsumoto-sama misses Haineko-sama, I am sure."

Ran knew it was rare to see the soul of a zanpautou unsealed, unless it was your own, of course. Slowly, she bowed to the girl, as far as her swelling belly would let her with the position she was in. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and low, so unlike the boisterous tone most of her friends knew.

"I'll never stop missing her..."

Sode no Shirayuki nodded her head slightly, midnight-dark eyes fixed on the shinigami in front of her. She knew this one. Matsumoto Rangiku, once-weilder of Haineko. But that was past. Haineko was gone now, her mistress alone.

"Of course you won't. She is a part of you, as I am a part of Mistress."

Now that she had at least determined that it was not deceit keeping her from her mistress, it was simple matter for the icy cool calm to suffuse back through her essence, the clipped and frigid demeanor softening, though it remained distant and formal.

"Was. The bond was broken past repair. Even if she was recoverable, I don't think it would be able to grow again."

She found it hard to even look at the spirit, but she kept her gaze as even as she could.

"I know Rukia was injured, but I don't have much more information other than that, really..."

Eyes narrowed slightly for a moment, but she chose not to pursue the subject further. It was unecessary and would serve little purpose. Besides, it was not her place to offer comfort to one not her mistress.

"I see. Do you know of Mistress' current status?"

Ran slowly shook her head, keeping focus on the rooftop between them.

"Her bracelet was recovered, which told us she was hurt, but if anyone's found her, they're keeping it quiet for now. The shinigami here in the city were ordered to recover the taken zanpakutou as a priority, but some of us kept searching for Rukia. Her reiatsu... wasn't traceable."

"It would not have been, the way Mistress trains herself now. From sunup to sunup, for days at a time. She even forsakes rest. All to outrun her own demons."

Her disaproval of the training practice was obvious with the tone of her voice.

Ran's face shifts to a frown. "She should know better. There's no way to accomplish anything training like that, no matter the reasons." Privately, she makes a mental note to talk to Rukia one to one about her training methods.

Shirayuki nodded.

"It is....not a quest for accomplishment that she walks. It is... a flight. An escape from things she cannot otherwise escape from. A way to push the worries from her mind. Her progress increases, but she carries a thirst, a hunger that was veiled before. But she is not driven by ambition. She is driven now by fear."

Ran can't help but feel a connection to Rukia in yet another way.

".... fear of what?"

"Fear of loss. Of falling behind, of once again seeing the backs of those she cares for. Of losing them, being powerless. Losing him. She runs from them as if they were demons preying upon her. Trains her body until it can no longer bear the strain, only to sleep for a fitful few hours before her own screams wake her."

Shirayuki shifted slightly, folding legs beneath her and readjusting the set of small hands in her lap.

"She had begun to heal, before he left. He is her anchor, her safety. And now, with Kurosaki-sama's memories lost, that harbour is no longer open to her as it was before. She doubts. Doubts him, doubts herself. Is torn between her heart and what she feels she must do for his comfort."

Rangiku sat in silence, taking in each word the seemingly dainty spirit 'said'. ".... if she's been taken by who we think took her, then these problms might be just the start."

The spirit nodded, expression concerned.

"Indeed. Mistress no longer sleeps, unless it is forced upon her, and even then it is a fitful rest. And though her power increases, she handicaps and undermines herself all along."

Dark blue eyes fixed on pale blue ones as they hardened with the frigidity of midwinter.

"Regardless of name or face, they shall be made to answer for her harm. If not to myself and Mistress, than to Kurosaki-sama and Zangetsu-sama."

The frown on Ran's face deepened. "Rukia should know that power isn't everything. If she's not in the shape to use it... " With a shake of her head, she fell silent for a moment.

"I have no doubt that Kurosaki-san will go after whoever hurt her.... I have some plans as well, but they have to wait..."

Frowning, the white-haired girl shook her head.

"I don't believe it is a matter of attaining power. Mistress...shuts portions of her mind to me. Parts that she views as weakness, as a liability or shameful. But I feel it is less a desire for power and more a way to try and forget her own nightmares. They haunt her so badly, even my calming seldom works."

Cocking her head to one side, she queried. "Plans of your own, Matsumoto-sama?"

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