Wasted but Wanted

[Suzume Hattori]

Somehow, the Shino Academy seemed even more crazed now that the Hollows had been beaten away. Rescue efforts were pulling mostly bodies from rubble, with the occasional student just barely clinging to life. Seated Officers and people of authority fought to maintain something akin to control, but only ended up giving conflicting answers to one another. Amidst the chaos, scant few had begun to investigate the why of this travesty.

Or, more accurately, those who were looking into it were easily able to keep a low profile thanks to the chaos.

Once Suzume's wounds had been healed sufficiently, she was on her feet and ready to rejoin her fellow Shinigami. Truthfully, she wanted nothing more than to hunt that Hollow that had eluded her, and then slay every beast that got in her way. Unfortunately, though, by the time she was able to walk again, there was nothing but stray Hollows that were easily dealt with by the masses that had arrived.

What a drag.

As such, her secondary plan was born: to find a member of the Sixth and report what she and Ayane had heard. Luckily, it took only a few questions to realize a Seated Officer was one of those who had been on site during the incident. Though wounded, it seemed he was eager to get to the bottom of this and was actively interrogating those who were still recovering. It was an energetic energy that Suzume could appreciate, even if it made actually tracking the man down more difficult than she would have liked. It seemed like every time they stopped at a triage station, they would be told, "oh he just left."

Suzume bemoaned their lack of results to Ayane, spitting a choice word about how it shouldn't be so hard to find a man using crutches. It was then that their companion, Rin Ishikawa, mumbled something in response. The unexpected voice made Suzume nearly leap from her skin, having forgotten about the soft-spoken medic. It wasn't the first time Suzume had forgotten that she ordered Rin to join them, and certainly wouldn't be the last.

Having a medic on hand was crucial, but Suzume wasn't accustomed to such a meek personality. Certainly not someone from her own Eleventh.

Finally -- finally -- the trio made their way to a smaller collection of tents which had been set up for newly rescued students. It was there that they finally found their quarry: an unimposing young-looking man with simple features marred by fresh bandages and an unhealthy amount of mud, dirt, and dried blood. An effort had been made to clean his face, but the rest of him...

Well, Suzume was relieved to see she wasn't the only Seated Officer who had taken a beating.

"Officer Inoue," Suzume called to him respectfully and stepped forward. "I'm sorry to bother you, but my fellow officer and I have urgent news to report about the attack on the Academy."

 

[Rin Ishikawa]

It was times like this where Rin reflected on the fact that even in the afterlife, there was no peace. Even this place meant to be a sanctuary turned into a hellscape.

Desecrated dead everywhere. The thought plagued her mind. With each mangled corpse that had once been a hopeful student, she felt the dread sinking in even deeper.

The spiraling luckily stopped everytime they started to move again Rin trying to focus on the frustration Suzume displayed. Apparently the three of them, were looking for someone from the Sixth, and she was asked along supposedly for her medical skills.

A sense of forethought not common in the 11th but it stood to reason someone should have a plan besides cut first. On the same note she was amused at the surprise when the officer that ordered her along seemed to forget she was there.

'Inoue' was who they finally located. Worse for wear and moving around despite injuries. Odd to see that outside the 11th but this life after death only seemed to grow stranger the longer one lived.

While Suzune grabbed his attention, Rin quietly and wordlessly moved around to flank the officer, studying his injuries and making the determination that this man needed additional work. Officer or not Rin was going to keep him from moving.

The bandages soaking with burned flesh not unlike Suzumes wounds. even the officers suffered, What good could I hope for? Another stinging thought trying to cause her to spiral. She shook it off though, a patient needed help, even if by force.

 

[Ayane Mibuchi]

A soft smile here, another one there, platitudes given to the many shinigami they passed on their search for the officer of the Sixth. Ordinarily, such smiles and words came easily to Ayane, flowing from her lips like butter. Today, more than ever before, she struggled to get her words out, to lift the spirits of those around her. It was...horrific, unthinkable. An assault on the Academy, Hollows swarming the grounds, slaughtering nearly all the students. And more than that were the many questions. Who had done it? How had they done it? Was it just one or two spearheading this, or were multiple involved?

The most unsettling question to Ayane, as they meandered through rooms and hallways filled with corpses, the dying, and those recovering...

Was how many had they lost?

A question that ate away at her heart, and everyone could see it. She still wore her smile, she still gave small talk as they moved, still gave out her typical laughter. But there was a pain to it now, a hurt that hadn't been there just several hours before everything had changed. Still, she was standing, and she and Suzume had a job. The normally rambunctious, energetic pink-haired girl of the Eleventh let her senior officer speak instead, for once, letting her eyes gaze over Imato. He doesn't look good either was the thought that flashed through her mind but, then. Who did look good, other than her and a scant few others?

She caught Rin, how the other looked, and reached a gentle hand up onto the other woman's shoulder. Giving it a soft squeeze before letting her hand drop to look back to Imato once more. "It's as Suzum- a-ahem, I mean. It's as Officer Hattori said! We're not sure exactly what it means yet, but we may have witnessed something key to unraveling who was behind all of this." Ayane chimed in, not that she had much to say. Honestly, it probably would have been best for her to stay quiet. But, then. She had never been known to keep herself quiet, even in serious circumstances.

 

[Imato Inoue]

As the cadre of officers from the Eleventh approached the small tent — more of a lean-to, really, propped up against a great wooden post that had once been the corner of a buliding — they would have seen Imato crouched down on one knee, wooden crutches placed delicately to the side, facing some three students slumped on the wet earth.

None of them were talking. The students stared off into the distance, or at the ground. Imato was simply set there, looking at them, with a calm and concerned look. He took his half-broken glasses off for a moment, cleaned them with his robe, before gently placing them back on his nose. Imato nodded, smiled a quiet and rueful smile, and said something that the students barely reacted to. Gently, he rose up, grabbed his crutches and turned away from the tent.

Nothing new. He had barely been on the trail for an hour. He was making good pace but learning absolutely nothing. At first, he had been willing to paint any mind that seemed distressed. But it was the same image, over and over again, to the point where Imato’s imagined, collective version of the story was coming close to overriding the memories of the students and faculties when their minds touched. That had always been a problem in larger-scale investigations. Back during the 19 hunt, he had almost made a witness believe that their testimony was wrong, and the image that Imato had painted for them was what had actually happened — even though that image came near verbatim from one of Imato’s dreams.

But the details were so important here. Everything was draped in deep fog. Usually, when working a case, hypotheses present themselves in patterns: certain motives pair with certain means. This was a crime without any sort of referent.

As Imato walked toward another tent, he heard his name called, and finally noticed the three figures walking toward him: blurry and fractured, as they were stood right where the cracks in his glasses projected onto his field of vision. He took the spectacles off.

Three women. One of them in front, strong posture and voice, clearly their leader, with a striking flash of white hair set against red eyes. Very familiar, but Imato couldn’t quite put a face to the name.

A dark haired girl, sullen, who wordlessly came up to his side and studied him with the same sort of careful and mechanical approach of the healers he had kindly, but firmly, just asked for leave from.

A woman who was completely out of place in the shattered battlefiled: rose-pink hair and eyes, and an ever so effervescent manner. She enthusiastically stuttered over the name of their leader — it finally clicked, Suzume Hattori, yes, Eleventh Division, he knew of her. But this rose-haired girl's kimono.

“God, I love that cloak.” Imato spilled out, staring at the thing, completely out of time, space and context for a moment. “That’s such a beautiful fabric. Did you have that tailored somewhere nearby? I don’t think that specific color would work on me, but, well. Wow.”

His eyes finally snapped back to Officer Hattori. “Oh, goodness, pardon me. Yes, hi, I’m Imato. Suzume Hattori of the Eleventh Division, we haven’t met before, but your reputation precedes you.” He gave a slight and friendly bow perched over a crutch, leaning over with only the slightest grimace. “I’m afraid I don’t know your subordinates as well, although that is my own shortcoming and no stain on the glorious reputation of the Fighting Eleventh," he said, inviting the medic (from the Eleventh?) and kimono girl to introduce themselves.

Imato's brows raised for a moment at the idea of a specific who being behind this. Something really, really stirred within him for a second. But he tempered his expectations as soon as he felt the feeling rise. Professional instincts kicked in. “Let’s, uh, walk a bit aways from here and let these kids rest in some quiet." He gently pushed past Rin, knowing she would probably tail his wounded body like a stray dog. "Will that be alright? Why don’t you tell me what happened, from the beginning."

"And then we’ll go from there.”

 

[Suzume Hattori]

"Oh, yes," Suzume stumbled over her words when she realized her rudeness. "The lady with impeccable fashion sense is the Fifth Seat Officer, Ayane Mibuchi. Joining us is Rin Ishikawa. All of us are from the Eleventh."

She gave a curt, not-quite-full bow to Imato. Formalities were secondary at best within the Eleventh and, in truth, Suzume herself seldom dealt with the other branches of the Seireitei. She, like many within the Eleventh, was isolated from much of the worries and politics that the other divisions would find themselves tangled in. Their own Captain seldom reared her head even for important meetings. Or so the rumors went.

A bit awkward, and clearly out of her ideal situation, Suzume nodded along with Imato's suggestion of going to a more private place. Well, as private as they could get in his crippled state.

"I'm sure you've already been pestered by this... but if you require healing, Rin is very capable with Kaido," Suzume said with a casual wave to the dark-haired tomboy. "If nothing else, she may be able to ease the pain while we talk."

The words were, in truth, more of something to fill the space. The disinterested droll to her tone did little to hide that fact, too. She, like the rest of the group, wanted to wait until they were out of earshot before discussing the sensitive matter at hand. So, Suzume let Rin and Imato have their back and forth, however it may have gone, while subtly guiding the group towards a mostly intact, small building. It looked to be a storage house of sorts. Though the roof had been ripped off, the walls miraculously stood strong.

Even the door didn't give up when she gingerly slid it to the side.

Another gesture invited the group into their semi-private retreat.

"Officer Mibuchi and I saw... Well, it's difficult to describe," she spoke only after shutting the door behind them. Her brows furrowed as the memory of their encounter seemed to slip through her fingers. "We heard a man and something discussing the attack on the Academy. From their conversation, it seemed to be a planned assault.

"The man, too, sounded almost familiar, though I couldn't quite place it."

 

[Rin Ishikawa]

Oblivious to what was said, Rin prepared to catch and assist the Man if his strength gave out. In his condition the fact he kept moving told her either he is singularly focused on his goal, or is used to the pain. Rin figured the former otherwise Imato would have been in the 11th.

Once she heard her name Rin suddenly snapped back to being aware of the surroundings and bowed at the introduction. Her aid being offered up with minimal enthusiasm, she had grown used to from her peers treating her like a fourth medic. Outcast till they need the help after battle.

Her attention shifted to being ready to help the Man move as they all made thier way to the oddly standing building. "I can start with the leg to at least get you more self ambulatory, then the hand to get you combat effective again" her smokey tone bordered on that line of masculine and feminine.

Rin made her way in first to clear out obstacles and assemble makeshift seats. "Sit there please, and I can start on whatever bothers you the most."

As the discussion started it became apparent that Rin was becoming privy to something serious. Suddenly the the moving to a semi private structure made sense. It wasn't just about being somewhere quiet. It was also to keep the details away from anyone else.

Gripping her left wrist as the green glow began Rin busied herself with mending Imato. keep yourself in line, don't speak out of turn and don't get nervous, lest you get accused or suspected of nefarious intent. she told herself feeling hopelessly out of place among officers.

 

[Imato Inoue]

They entered the storage room, with Rin close at Imato's side. He smiled at her as she darted away from his side, and directed him to a specific seat she had made out of a beam that had been blasted in an opportune manner. "You're incredible. I think I will very graciously accept your help, Rin, thank you."

"You heard a man and something." Imato nodded at Suzume. "Did the something sound like, I don't know. A sword being scratched over jagged stone. I heard a...yes, something speak like that, as well. More importantly, though, for right now: what did you hear them talk about?" He wanted to ask about the voice but thought better of it. He didn't want to bias the Image.

He let out a sigh as the green glow of Rin's kaido made its way into his calf. It felt like his entire leg was breathing: breathing in the purest, coldest, crispest mountain air. He felt the muscles which had either been aching violently or erupting in random, painful spasms let go of a heavy weight, at once. It didn't quite feel solid enough to sustain all of Imato's weight. "You are really, really good."

Imato turned back to Ayane and Suzume. "I'll cut to the chase. I don't know what you've heard about me, if anything, but I'm a detective. I was promoted from the Investigations Office and that's still my job, for the most part. I have the ability to attune my mind with someone else's and create something like an image from our shared experience. It's not always perfect, but I've found that it's a very useful skill, especially when everyone understands what's going on and there's a mutual goal of furthering our understanding of one another. It could very likely give me a much more direct, realistic glimpse of what happened to you."

Very, very practiced, the spiel was. The problem was simple: nobody liked getting their mind read, and you had to make them want to (rule 1: don't use the words "mind reading"). Sure, it wasn't quite mind-reading, Imato felt like he could really, without any reservations, argue that. And there was just as much risk that Imato reveal too much of himself as it was the other round. But you could spend hours trying to assuage someone's concerns, and at the end of that road there would still be a small, nagging fear. The key in these sorts of situations was to convince people's hearts (from a place of truth) that you were not there to rip into their only true home and shake out their drawers for everyone to see. Maybe, and Imato couldn't really say this to anyone directly but he felt it deeply, you were there to give something like witness to a life necessarily lived in a locked room.

"If you'd allow it, Suzume and Ayane, I'd very much appreciate the opportunity to attune with you both. Rin, I won't ask the same of you because you are doing such an excellent job healing me, and it's my current understanding that you were not aware of the events at hand. I wouldn't ask anyone to engage in this practice unless I thought it had very specific use."

 

[Suzume Hattori]

Imato wasn't wrong about Rin's skills. Suzume could appreciate them even more as she watched wounds being mended from the opposite side of the table, so to speak. During her own healing, she had been distracted and in so much pain that it was difficult to appreciate.

Now, watching flesh be woven like silk and stitched anew, it was inspiring. For a very brief moment, Suzume wished she had spent more time studying the arts.

Her eyes met Imato's right when he began his explanation. To which Suzume nodded along with him.

"Your reputation precedes you, Officer," she said. She didn't know the specifics of his power, but that he could view memories was fertile grounds for rumors. Even if what she had originally heard was slightly off from his explanation, it was still exactly what she was hoping to hear.

"We heard part of the conversation, though some was difficult to make out," she confirmed. "Primarily, one of the participants I..."

She glanced at Rin with eyes that warned her lesser not to speak a word of this. Then, back to Imato, she continued:

"...I recognized. With a little luck, your power may be able to at least narrow down who it was that we overheard."

With that, she took a step forward and then got on a knee before Imato. She was a bit lower than she would have liked, but given the situation, it was better than standing in front of him.

"Do what you need to do and guide me on how I can make it easier on you," she said. Then, with a half-grin, she chuckled: "I ain't got nothing to hide, so feel free to poke around as much as you need."

 

[Ayane Mibuchi]

I should have learned that.

It was the first thing Ayane thought as she watched Rin get to work on healing the man, biting her lip as she glanced between them, and Suzume. She should have learned that, because then she could have helped Suzume, she could have ensured that even had...the worst came to pass.

Had she been unable to deal with the threats on their way out, at least Suzume would have been able to run on her own two feet. An uncharacteristic silence came over the normally boisterous young woman, eyes narrowed in thought. So focused was she on the all-consuming thoughts of how Kaido could have solved a lot of the issues in the attack, that she nearly missed it when Imato began to speak, to explain his power.

"Like mind reading!" she came out and said it bluntly, happy for a distraction from her depressing thoughts and inner chiding of herself. She shook those off, at least for now, and focused on the moment, casting a glance to Suzume as the other stepped forth. Ayane wondered if maybe she ought to say something more, add to it. But, then, if Imato had wanted to learn more beforehand, surely he would have asked, right?

Besides, he was going to learn it all in a few moments from not only Suzume, but herself, as well. It was at that moment that Ayane paused in her thinking. She blinked a few times, then a slight blush formed on her face. Her gaze went back to Suzume, a nervous chuckle leaving her lips. "Aha...nothing to hide, Suzume? Aren't you, uh. Forgetting a certain something that happened...?" Ayane spoke, a moment of levity to lighten things up. Well, that, and just her bluntly speaking her mind again, as per usual.

 

[Suzume Hattori]

There was an uncertain pause following Ayane's words. A split second of huh, and then a much more pronounced oh.. Heat rose to Suzume's cheeks, but her caramel complexion hid the rush of embarrassment that rushed through her.

She let out a chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck, eyes darting about as she hurried through her thoughts.

"Well, nothing to hide about the attack," she said with a lopsided grin at the Third Seat. "Though, maybe try to avoid things that happened once we fled the grounds. Unless you want this to get awkward."

Another laugh, one fuller and more proper, eased Suzume's tension and, hopefully, brought a smile to Ayane.

 

[Rin Ishikawa]

"I uhh..." Rin cut in as the glow faded and she stood up to go stand in the doorway to be a more active lookout. "If you don't mind I'll keep my eye out."

She shouldn't be here, but people needed aid and she happened to be asked to tag along when sensitive information was being shared. The look from Suzume said a lot. don't speak on this. Rin may be fool hearty in her desicions but she knew a losing battle when faced with one. Silence it would be.

Admist the ealier chatter it didnt click how genuine anyone was about her kaido. In her head it was always laced with sarcasm. why does an 11th need to know that? or Too scared to deal with the pain? Rin knew she was useful it just never mattered until tragedy struck.

Eyes peeled as she scanned the ruins and open roof of thier little room ensuring no one got too close, or ready to strike at any unseen lurking threat.

 

[Imato Inoue]

“Well, it’s more like a syn-“ Imato caught himself and smiled. “Yes, it’s like mind reading.”

The two women shared a moment that quite clearly indicated there was something they did not want to share. Bringing it up at all to Imato, unfortunately, was probably the worst way to go about that. Kirikoete did not want to paint anything that was not true in an important sense. Yes, sometimes, you might pull a distant memory from the subject or Imato, but never without reason. But the problem is when you bring something back to the forefront of your mind, it becomes part of the truth of the moment. Otherwise, why would it have come up.

“That’s okay. If it doesn’t matter to what we care about right now, it shouldn’t come up.” True, but maybe not in the sense his companions might have wanted.

Suzume came in front of him and kneeled, and Imato saw Rin step out of the room. He nodded, before placing right his hand on Suzume’s temple. “Okay, Suzume. I want you to hold the memory of these people for a moment, and then I want you to think about your father. Or your mother. Whichever one you remember better, or trust more. I want you to think about what they look like. Really, really think.”

“And I want you to think about them standing in the Seireitei, and the Academy. Then, just, breathe for a moment. I want you to feel their body, your body, expand to encompass the entirety of the Soul Society. Let the body dissolve into the land, into the buildings. Breathe. And then,” Imato pressed a bit deeper with his fingers into Suzume’s head,

and he stood in front of her. How could we be worthy? We never really lived up to the stories of the heroes of old, did we? There was something different in the sky, in the water, in the land. Always harboring the hope that the tide might change and we could live to see those times. But she wasn’t just a statue. She was here, your hero, not just the harbinger of the times and to deliver the world from cloud-cover, bone creaking days of a nothing malaise, but for you. To save your own soul by reminding of your freedom, your capacity to walk a higher road, to breathe a new rarefied air by finding the different choice.

Why would you turn away? But the body did, guided by some spectral suggestion. It was compelled to note the holes in the air, empty irradiated bubbles filled with night sky and the figures of meaningless forms. A great white beast, same one as before, nothing new. Some man with long hair, the holes concealing him blowing back and forth, here and fro like a flag in the wind.

He wanted more than anything to turn back and kneel and receive the benediction of the pink haired woman to his side,

but instead he woke up with a quiet gasp. Imato sat there for a moment, hand barely off of Suzume’s head, making eye contact with her. He furrowed his brow and smiled. “Incredible. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an image that sharp. You have a very clear soul.”

Imato's arm fell. “Ayane, I’ll tell you what we saw, but first I’d like to try to assess your image. I worry that telling you about Suzume’s results would distort the process with you.” Imato, for his own part, tried to quiet his mind. He could build the profile later.

He got up from his log-seat with a mild grunt, so genuinely surprised at how much weight his leg could hold that he nearly fell over, before shuffling over to Ayane. He knelt down in front of her - something unexpected shifted in his heart as he did, and he smiled at the feeling.

“Are you ready? Okay. Close your eyes and just think about,” He paused for a long moment, placing the hand on the temple, “think about water.” Another pause, with total silence from Imato. Eventually, he pressed in.

The same scene as before, but the man in the flowing holes was no longer a figure but a box. Like someone had painted the figure of a man and then cut it out in canvas. But within the canvas was the door to the void, swirling, which was the only way the void could speak. Blue, black, purple, silver, coalescing into a great eye that was even darker. It wasn’t really that the void could talk of course.

He squinted into Ayane’s eyes for a moment before looking down, silently mouthing something to himself, turning away. There was something on his mind.

He stood up, gathering himself, dusting off his knees, before putting his hands on his hips. “Your visions line up very well. Not that I didn’t trust that they would. But that’s important. You both saw the same beast that I did, conversing with what I can only assume to be another Shinigami, hidden from view.”

Another beat. Imato looked off at one of the corners of the room, biting his lip. “A man with long hair and dark features. Black, maybe blue hair? Someone who looks like the night sky. Does that put a face to the voice?”

“Who does that make you think of?”

 

[Suzume Hattori]

Ink spread across her vision like a brush over saturated pressed into the most pristine scroll. Drops blotted about, consuming everything until there was nothing but the black canvas. The shapeless abyss swirled, taking something akin to a shape and then morphed into a strange pattern. Its meaning was beyond comprehension and left Suzume dizzy. From within the abyss, she felt a call, like the beckoning of a mother to come home.

Then, from the darkness, color splattered. It flowed, spreading in wispy patterns like lazy watercolor. Those shapes took proper form within seconds -- Ayane smiled down at her, a radiant blaze of comfort that tamed the unpredictable swirl of the void. Her lips moved, uttering something Suzume couldn't make out, though the meaning was felt in her soul.

She was safe.

A splattering of white ink spread behind her oblivious smile. It's twisted form monstrous and gnarled by bone-white layering. A tail, a wicked smile, and robes of bone-white fluttering from behind a veil that shifted in the wind. It, too, spoke with a gleeful grin, but its words did not reach Suzume. Its meaning lost beyond the radiance of Ayane before her.

What wasn't lost, however, was another figure. He, too, was monochrome, but it felt out of place. As if the saturation had been drained from an otherwise bright and lively figure. His long hair shifted with the flow of the veil, obscuring sharp features and oddly familiar eyes. He spoke to the beast, equally as oblivious to his onlookers as Ayane was to anything that wasn't Suzume.

Until, suddenly, his eyes snapped to Suzume, and he spoke--

Suzume gasped as she was unexpectedly thrust from the vision. All of it gone with a single blink of her eyes. She struggled in vain to cling to the vision, but it fell like water through her fingers. Like watercolor with an inky rainbow spilling into nothingness.

She breathed out a laugh at Imato's comment on her soul. She might have been more flattered if she wasn't so wrapped up in her own thoughts.

Somehow, the recreation seemed even more vivid than what she had seen in the moment. As if his Shikai allowed her to view it in a new light. Yet, even with the angle change and the clarity, she couldn't make anymore sense of it. The man was just as mysterious, the Hollow-like equally as foreboding. It granted her no answers and only fueled the uneasy knot in her stomach.

She waited quietly while Imato peered into Ayane's mind. The silence was deafening -- maddening, even, when Suzume's thoughts were such a mess. By the time Imato leaned back and looked at both of them, she let out a small huff. She closed her eyes, longing for the vision to return, and rubbed the back of her neck.

"A man with black or brown hair is the majority of the Seireitei," she said with another huff. "But..."

She chewed her lip, irritation giving way to genuine thought.

"Maybe Lieutenant Kikuchi?" She suggested with a small shrug. "I only met him briefly, so maybe the vague familiarity of his voice matches. Though, he never struck me as the sort to betray the Seireitei."

Another pause.

"Isn't that Oetsu kid dark-haired?" She brought up. "The one who created the asauchi? I don't think I've met him, but it's possible we crossed paths without me releasing.

"Perhaps the asauchi were created not for us but to fuel the Hollows?"

 

[Ayane Mibuchi]

She...wasn't sure what to think after he had used his power.

She had done as he asked. Closed her eyes, cleared her mind, and thought only of water. It wasn't a very helpful instruction if you asked her, she didn't see how it could help. Yet she did as he asked anyway, taking deep, slow and deliberate breaths, wondering if anything would happen, soon. And then, they did. It was as if she was back in the Academy that day, back in the middle of the attack, back in the middle of the slaughter, the scent of blood and smoke filling the air, the choking sensation in her throat, the-

The woman shook her head slightly, stopping herself. Instead she merely focused, confirming what he already knew from Suzume. A man, and the creature he was speaking to. Ayane was certain now that the man had to be a Shinigami, and the idea sent a shudder through her. Of course, she had suspected it ever since that day, how could she not? Nothing else made sense. But seeing it again, reliving it from what felt like a fresh angle...

It was difficult, keeping her mind focused on the scene before her, to keep it clear for him. Difficult, because she was filled with fury at the idea that a fellow Shinigami would cause something like this. Would set into ploy some sort of plan, because clearly it didn't end here, to destabilize the Soul Society. Still, she had decades of experience focusing, so she shunted those emotions to the side for the moment, focusing solely on making the man, the Hollow creature he was with, as vivid and detailed as possible.

Coming out of the experience, Ayane wasn't sure how focused she had kept things for him, or if she had helped. A dark-haired man with long hair, dark features, and reminded one of the night sky. A very vague description, and Ayane bit her lip, narrowing her eyes as she thought on it.

Before eventually letting out a sigh and a shrug. "Oetsu and Lieutenant Kikuchi...they're definitely a fit for what we saw, sure. But so are a lot of those in the Soul Society. It's...really not a lot to go on..." she trailed off, before glancing over to Suzume and nodding. "I've been thinking that too! So many of them seemed to be eating the swords, after all. It's possible Oetsu is in on this and made the Asauchi just so he could get them to the Hollows. Help get them produced on a mass scale, something he couldn't do alone, by making it seem as if they're for the Gotei. I swear I've met him before so that'd explain why he sounded familiar. But, again. There's not exactly a lot to go off of here."

Her contribution was weak, unhelpful. She just didn't want anyone getting hellbent on the idea that it HAD to be one of the two Suzume suggested. The last thing they needed was infighting and false accusations.

 

[Rin Ishikawa]

Her eyes focused on the surroundings, as she had said keeping a lookout. What she wasn't expecting was catching snippets of these Visual recreations. Was it from being so close?

The sudden watercolor painting of the invasion overlapping with reality for breif moments. The sounds of screams, the smell of freshly burned flesh, the glimpse of A scorpion like Hollow. Rin gritted her teeth and felt her hand grip the hilt of her blade as if ready to draw and fight. Then a faint voice, seeing muffled or unclear to Rin. But everything Imato was doing with Suzume and Ayane felt mostly detected in her periphery senses.

When the visions ended it took a few moments for her to catch her breath. Having partially experienced it seemed to make Rin feel out of breath. Her eyes darted around to ensure no one had approached.

"Wait....they were eating swords not students?" She asked aloud then wondered. Then why kill the students? That didn't make any sense as she turned her back to the outside

THEN that insidious thought, someone helped this happen? That unsettled her for sure. No wonder Suzume gave her a look to keep quiet. This started sounding like a conspiracy.

Why couldn't this afterlife been peaceful? Instead Rin had to wrestle with monsters and possible traitors. There was no reason to lie, the 11th may love fighting but not killing thier own. right? At the very least these two didnt scream traitors, and this Imato? Uncertain but Rin had no instinct for catching lies.