The Wisdom of the Elder, Except Not Really [JT, R]

[Nira Sjane]

A lot of things could have gone....better ...in her life. A long life it had been, indeed. Making her way after the loss of Dread, she had even gone so far as to have her crew leave her, to have a means of making her own life. Without her crew she had wandered through the wilderness of the soul society for a while. And in time .. she had wandered right on back to the Rukongai itself. Thankfully her mask fragments were pretty small, and without Dread, her own spiritual presence and power was small enough that she could hide it with ease, especially given her penchant for hiding.

With this skill in hand, she had managed to make her way toward a particular estate. One that, as information went, was generally a property of some random noble house. But it had a particular significance, one she had talked out of someone very close to the Admiral of the Wandering sand. Information that was....fascinating. It was the very district where that Admiral had met her adoptive father. Strilling down the streets, it didn't take long for her eyes to set upon what she was looking for.

She actually smiled to herself, walking her way over to the pool and staring down at it. The gentle ripple of Koi in evidence. Kneeling down, she gently skimmed her fingers along the water, and it was....odd. That such a significant place, in the past of someone so important to the sands, would be so...mundane. But....after a few moments, she rose to her feet, and noticed a few of the denizens of the area looking at her. Supposedly the family had been thrilled that a Kuchiki had "spawned" from the area.

 Even though Ajraka's actual position as a Kuchiki had always been questionable, the fact of the matter was that she was rumored to be incredibly powerful. A rumor spawned both in talk of her spars with powerful individuals, as well as people having claimed that she could teleport around, those who swore to have seen her exhibiting shihouin-like speed at a party. So like any bottomfeeder in the soul society, they had come to be better known, and even had established a small organization that sought out and looked about for gifted beastclan.

She smiled, and offered a wave, just as she noticed that one of them was making their way over with some sort of pamphlet. Yuck. She smiled politely, but turned and began walking toward the sereitei, that smile vanishing the moment she had her back to the woman. She was looking to find one man in particular, one who supposedly was supposed to hang around these parts. As an arrancar it would be a pain in her lily-white ass, but she didn't care. Kyomei Kuchiki was, reportedly, a man of great wisdom and kindness, who even seemed to be positive around hollows and arrancar of the Sands.

If anyone could help outside of the Sands, she supposed it would be him.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

Everything was all so... overwhelming. Sozen had just been promoted to the Zero Division, which caught the whole family by surprise. With his heirs not being ready to take over, or just plain being Missing In Action in one case, there wasn't really anyone to lead the family anymore. There was no one of pure blood to take over, so there was a meeting of the elders. They decided as a whole to let an adopted member become Head of the clan. It was a whirlwind decision, but Kyomei was now the head of the Kuchiki family and now was forced to move squads to take over the family's squad.

As the new head of the Internal Affairs department, the man was now entrusted with super secure documents and reports. It was just... all so overwhelming. Kyomei was not good at interrogation by violent means, no, but he still wasn't well versed in any other kind of interrogation. So he was learning, even as he was supposed to be leading the squad. It didn't help either that much of the leadership of the squad had been lacking in recent times. This was just something that the man was going to have to get through and adapt to. Meanwhile, the darkness of the Kuchikis' records were shocking. Sozen had developed many terrible techniques that would have to be burned so that none could use them...

In one of the days where Kyomei was just feeling down and hopeless that he'd adapt to his new job, he wandered the family grounds, clutching his gift from his daughter. His crystal from the Sands of Las Arenas that calmed him and soothed his pain. It could never take away the physical pain that he felt, but it helped the emotional pain and scarring that had built up over time... So, while walking, he began to feel a sort of pull from his crystal. Pulling him in the direction of another like minded individual. One that was searching for him while wearing a crystal of her own...

[Nira Sjane]

Nira paused when she noticed that presence, her shard all but tingling in her palm as she continued to move around, a little surprised at how nice the surroundings were until finally she saw him, not twenty meters away from her she noticed the presence he had almost immediately. Putting on a smile, she lifted her shard up where he could see it and put on a bright smile across her features. "Well shit, I didn't actually think that I'd find you this quickly. Great minds must think alike." She chortled to herself.

She casually made her way over to the shinigami, a shinigami who, had she belonged to Las Noches, no doubt would be halfway to obliterating her at this point. "Kyomei Kuchiki. Captain offff.....Squad...ten? No Six is the Kuchiki squad right?" She mused, funnily enough it was incorrect by as far as Las Arenas was aware, given Ajraka's intl, but convenient guess as to contemporary adjustments. "I'm Niraja Sjane. Admiral of the Heart Sands. I'm a colleague of your Daughter Ajraka." She noted with a low nod of respect, even inclinging her body just a bit, an inkling of a bow, a severe sign of respect so far as Arrancar went.

She was well aware this would no doubt be confusing, but she could sense it from him through her shard. She could almost taste her own shard pulsing, like it always did when she herself was upset, which meant that the man before her no doubt was giving off enough that hers was feeding off of it. "No offense Sir but you look a bit like shit. Seems like we could both use a bit of R and R heh." She then pulled a canteen from her cloak, unscrewing it and offering it to the shinigami. " Mountain Dew?" She offered.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

Kyomei found the member of the Sands quite quickly, much to his surprise. "Yes, Captain of Squad 6. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Ms. Sjane. I'll admit, my daughter hasn't mentioned you at all. We've talked little of her colleagues. I will take you up on your offer of refreshment, though." Kyomei took the flask offered him and took a long sniff of the flask, the caffeinated fumes filling his sinuses with that pleasant aroma. He took a small sip just to taste it before letting a large gulp fill his throat before handing it back to the Arrancar. "You'll have to forgive me, probably, but we should move to somewhere less conspicuous. Talk moves quickly around these parts."

With a small bow and a gesture of his hand, he indicated to Niraja that they should travel towards a wooded area in the back of the property. It would be much more secluded and private for whatever she wanted to discuss. Kyomei may be sympathetic to the Sands, but that didn't mean that everyone around was. Especially if they caught sight of her Mask Fragment that revealed her Arrancar-ness. Truth be told, Kyomei hadn't even noticed it yet, but wouldn't be too surprised by it. He had trained with Ajraka and her Hollows and Arrancar who had proven they could be rational and stave off their need for feeding by the fragments of the Sands. That was good enough for the Kuchiki Captain who just truly wanted allies in this messed up world of politics and war he was in...

[Nira Sjane]

She nodded lightly in response to that, accepting the flask and stowing it as he made a gesture to a wooded area. She confessed it was a good idea, nodding silently as she began trudging her way to the woods, her head abuzz with thoughts. She knew what she had to ask, what she had to say. But how to say it? It was a complicated ordeal to say the least. Once they entered the treeline she decided to break the silence.

"I'm broken. Some kinda... soul thing. I heard wabout you. You're one of those weird ones right? You hurt when you use your spirit energy?" she asked, turning so that those bright yellow eyes locked onto the man. A calm, serious tone in contrast to her usually lazy and laid-back demeanor. "I was, up until recently, some kinda.... fragment. I was a zanpaku'to. You know? Not....quite but...something like that. I was a spirit inside of another. And when we separated, we relied on eachother. But now my owner went and left." She murmured, frowning as she just....tried to muster herself.

"I feel like... I don't know. Like I'm...hollowed out. I know that I have to try and grow past this. The longer we're separated, and the more independent of me she becomes. The more I am going to start shedding what's left of her. For a fuckin long time I was just a vessel for HER power. But I've never known about my own! Every hollow knows their power, what makes them unique. But I don't. I don't know whats going to happen, and I don't know how to...get at it.... do you understand?"

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

It took a moment for Kyomei to take in all that Niraja had said. She had called him one of the weird ones, which stung a bit even as he knew it was true. But he bit his tongue lightly and continued to listen as she explained that she had been a part of another Arrancar, their Zanpakutou, and was now separated. This was something that the Kuchiki had never come across before. He had heard of split persons who had their Spirit outside of their body. There was a Vice Captain... or was he a Third Seat... Kyomei couldn't remember the name and rank of the one he was thinking of, especially since they had never been acquainted before, but it wasn't unheard of for the split, fractured nature of one's soul to manifest as a separate entity.

But Niraja was that separate entity that was now... sundered. Cut off from the host as if she was some kind of parasite. Kyo felt for her and her trouble, especially now that she didn't know how to access her own power. She had no visible Zanpakutou like the other Arrancar the Captain had come across, so releasing her Ressureccion was probably out of her reach for right now. "While I do understand your lack of ability to reach for your powers, having only obtained my own through constant study instead of innate ability, I'm not sure how I can help you. I know nothing innately of Arrancar Ressureccion, and little academically of it as well. I suppose that I could analyze your soul, though, the way I would attempt to do so with the nature of my spells. It might take me a little while longer than it would take to analyze a Kidou, though. Or is there something else you would like me to do to help?"