Wondering what to do

Yuki sat on a park bench looking up at the cloudy sky, just willing the heavens to open up and spill the rain that had been forecasted for so long. She was on patrol, but so far nothing had happened, and she was jus wondering what she should do to fill in the time between now and the next hollow attack which, having seen a trend in the appearances, wouldn't come until later that day in the late afternoon. She blew a stray strand of hair out of her eye which had fallen down, looking extremely bored. What did most people do when they had nothing to do? She didn't know, which led her to sit on a park bench, bored. At least it wasn't hot and sunny, which she was thankful for.

It had been a cloudy day, but Ish knew that the rain wouldn't start for another hour or so... after all, he had approved the forecast before he had left. He had been wandering the park for a few hours, waiting for something interesting to happen. I thought that Hollows were supposed to be attracted to parks... As he walked, he saw a woman sitting on a bench, seemingly looking up to the heavens. If she was waiting for rain, she'd be there for a while. Ish noted that her reaitsu seemed to be that of a Captain- level Shinigami, and so decided to stop by for a chat. He approached her, sitting on the bench and smiling. You look bored...

Yuki turned her head to the side to see a stranger sitting next to her on the bench. There was nobody else aaround so it was obvious he was talking to her, and as Yuki concentrated she could sense the immense power coming from him meaning, the power of a vizard.

"Yes, well when you're on patrol in Karakura during the day there isn't really much to do. I'm Yuki by the way, Koori Yuki." She sat up straighter so she could extend her hand towards him in greeting.

Ish smiled at the Shinigami, who had just extended a hand to him. My how things have changed... I didn't even bother to hide my Hollow taint, and she still wants to shake hands. The Vizard must have made quite a comeback. He took her hand, shaking it. My name is Ishpaleum, and I assure you that there is always something to do. After all, this is Hollow central, right?

"That's what I thought as well, but do you know how long I've been here - not just here on this seat, but around the whole town - monitoring the entire town? Too damn long! And do you know how many hollow I've sensed? None. I've come to the conclusion that they must dislike the daytime, which seems irrational."

Suddenly she stopped talking, feeling slightly embarressed that she had allowed herself to lose herself to her frustrations and dump them all on this vizard. What should he care about her problems?

"Sorry about that."

Ish's smile remained through this, and even seemed to have a hint of amusement in it. And what horrible sin have you committed? You simply spoke what you see as the truth. In fact, if you hadn't I would have been insulted. You know, back when I used to patrol the human world I discovered something... they never come when you expect them to, but they always come. All you need is patience.

Yuki nodded at the vizard's words.

You're right, I'm usually a patient person, I guess that my zanpakuto's impatient spirit is starting to rub off on me." She smirked slightly to herself at this; there was no way that she would ever become like her zanpakuto spirit.

"So you used to patrol? How long ago was it that you were a shinigami?"

Ish chuckled a little when she asked. Yeah, I used to patrol. But that was so long ago that it doesn't matter to anything but the dirt and dust. He seemed to be distracted for a moment, then turned back to Koori, looking at her Zanpakto. Do you and your Zanpakto not get along very well?

It was interesting to think that all vizards once were shinigami; what had made them become vizards? Was it by choice or was it forced upon them? She refrained from asking those questions in case she seemed rude, but filed them away in her mind to ask later.

"It would be interesting to see how much the town has changed... I guess you could say me and my zanpakuto - Touketsu Suru Hi - don't get along very well most of the time, though she has her moments - no matter how rare they are - when she's decent enough for us to get along. We're so different that sometimes I wonder how she could be an extension of my soul."

My, she IS a curious one... wondering about the town while trying to deal with her Zanpakto. Ish smiled, then paused before speaking. Well I can tell ya, this town has ben at the center of many battles over the years, and has always been filled with powerful energies. He looked at her Zanpakto again, then back to her. Your Zanpakto is an extension of your soul, that is true. But it is also its own entity, with its own personallity. Learning to deal and bond with it is part of what makes a Shinigami grow.

How old was this guy? It was interesting to imagine him as being extremely old, though it was hard as he didn't appear physically to be a day over 30.

"Were you involved in any of these battles? I know that my zanpakuto has her own personality - like I couldn't know that - but ou would think that she would have at least some qualities even only slightly similar to mine. Oh well, I do try to get along with her but she's extremely frustrating. Luckily I don't have to worry about strength - I get more than enough of that from her; one day it's her goal to be free from me and rule the universe - but until then I'll have to be her vessel. Do you get along well with your zanpakuto?"

She was curious as to what the bond between a vizard and a zanpakuto was considering there was another entity in their head.

Ish looked at her. My... you certainly have a lot of questions. How do you ever get bored? Yes, I was involved in most of the battles in this area. Mostly because they normally involved the fate of the world, but sometimes it was just out of boredom. As for your Zanpakto, why should it share characteristics with you? With you being as unique as you are, shouldn't your Zanpakto be the same? Always remember, the strength of a Shinigami does not come from their Zanpakto, but from the strength of their spirit. The Zanpakto is an extension of this. He smiled, looking down at his Zanpakto. Jinsei here has been with me for a very long time, and we have learned to live with each other. We have learned from one another, and by this point we know each other well enough so that we rarely need to speak anymore.

Yuki ducked her head when she realised she was asking a lot of questions - but she couldn'y help it, she had never spoken to a vizard before, so it was sort of the novelty of it.

"I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions, you're just a really interesting person to talk to, with so much experience of the world and knowledge. But you are right about my zanpakuto - maybe one day we will get along, but in the mean time I'll try to accept her for the bitch she is." She smiled briefly at that.

"It must be nice to have such an extremely close bond with your zanpakuto."

Ish looked at her, tilting his head while allowing his smile to remain. Well, if it isn't an actual smile! I was wondering when I'd get to see it. By the way, I never said that having questions was a bad thing. In fact, questions are at the very core of what makes a person. Their doubts, hopes, and fears are all tied into them, and that is what gives them such power. He then paused, realizing that he might have overstepped it a bit there. Anyway, I'm not that interesting. I'm just your average everyday guy, with a few eccentricities. His smile reappeared at that point. And you can trust me, you and your Zanpakto are going to get to know each other very well in the future, and you will both be better for it.

Her face went very slightly red as he pointed out her smile - she was insecure about those kind of things, which was one of the reasons why she didn't smile often. What he said about asking questions... it was so deep and meaningful, and she agreed one hundred percent, though she probably would never have been able to word it so nicely.

"Questions are important, and you're right. However, sometimes I ask too many questions and people get annoyed. Have you ever heard the saying curiosity killed the cat? Yeah, I'm the cat. But if you don't ask questions you can never learn... Anyway, thanks for the advice on my zanpakuto, hopefully now I'll be able to listen better to her, and her to me if it means she can get stronger."

She fell silent. She always like the silence and couldn't believe how much she had talked with this guy - it was almost unheard of considering she was usually extremely anit-social.

Ish smiled, noticing that she had blushed a little. I guess she doesn't get complimented too much on her smile, that or she doesn't show it too much. He sat there for a moment, enjoying the silence that she had brought on. Not many people could actially use silence as a conversational tool, and he was impressed by it. While I disagree about you asking too many questions, as I firmly believe that there is no such thing, I won't ruin the conversation by arguing about it. You have a lot of potential, and much of it lies in your curiosity. I assure you, it is a valuable asset, and very soon it will be of good use.

She nodded her head in recognition of his statement to show she had understood what he said, deciding to also drop the subject. She wondered what he meant by 'very soon it will be of good use', was something gooing to happen soon. Maybe she was just reading into jis words too much. Suddenly she remembered something that she had thought earlier in the conversation but hadn't brooched the topic.

"So you're a vizard - obviously - but you were also a shinigami once right? How did you become a vizard?" She wasn't sure if this was too personal, but it was too late to take her words back now.

Ish's face darkened for a moment, as he remembered the horrors that had led to him gaining this power... this curse, this contamination, this... gift that he had bourne for so long. This only lasted a moment though, and he returned to his cheery self. Yeah, I was a Shinigami at one point... kinda. I became a Vizard while battling my father, hoping to save the Seiretei. I both won and lost, and was changed as a result of the battle.

She felt sorry for asking about his past when she saw the darkness on his face for a few moments as he remembered; she could emphasise with him - everybody had things in their past they would rather not remember.

"Do you ever wish that you were still a shinigami?"

Ish looked at her, smiling and not quite sure how to respond. After all, he had never technically been a Shinigami. He had lived among them, and been granted thesame power as them. In all aspects but his birth he had been a Shinigami for a long time, but he had never quite felt that he had truly become a member of the race.

Sometimes I wish I was still among the Shinigami, but then I always remember the benefits of being who I am. The Soul Society has rules, because they have to. They have regulations, paperwork, government, all so that they can protect those who they are responsible for. I do the same, with the only difference being that I am not held in the same constraints, and so I can work more efficiently. Besides, the past is the past, and I wouldn't want to return to it because I would miss the future.

She didn't know what it would feel like to not have any rules, to be free and unrestrained. That was one thing she always felt in Soul Society, that her wings were clipped and she was grounded. That was one of the reasons why she had never wanted to be a captain - too mnay rules and restrictions to further damage her already damaged wings. But at the same time it was the only life she knew and so wouldn't know what to do even if she was free.

"I'm sure that would be nice, but don't the vizards have a military type organisation as well? Obviously they wouldn't have as much paperwork, but you would still be constricted by their rules wouldn't you?"

Ish had to think about that one. It was true that he was a Vizard, and that he had joined their "little club", and had even become head of their combat division, but he had never fully committed himself to them, and so wasn't quite certain of whether he fell under their juristiction.

To be honest, I'm with them only as long as I believe in what they do. I follow the rules that I would follow anyway, but otherwise I cannot say that they have a hold on me, and that is how it should be in an organization. You work for them because you feel it is best, and if there are rules which would stop you from doing the right thing... well, you need to cast those rules aside.

Ish wasn't certain, but he thought he might have said too much there, and that his distaste for the Seiretei's rules might have seeped into his response.

It was obvious he was talking about Seireitei's rules when he talked, and she felt like she should defend them, but knew that she couldn't because he was right. The vizard organisation sounded so much different to the one for the shinigami - she wouldn't be able to truthfully say that there wasn't a hold on her, resticting her movements due to the law. And she had never even thought about whether she would ever break the law in any situation - was she so conditioned to abide by Seireitei's rules faithfully no matter what? When had that happened? It was even worse now that she was a captain - before it was more lenient and she had a bit more freedom, but now she was always under scrutiny, always seen, so there was no margine of era for her.

"So do your loyalties only go as far as it suits you? Seireitei has a lot restrictions for the shinigami, I do agree with that - though you didn't out-right say it I knew what you were referring to. I guess that's one of the reasons why I never wanted to be a captain."

She didn't know why she said that last part - usually she would keep information about herself secret, but she felt comfortable talking to this vizard. She looked up at the sky as the clouds started to spit small droplets of water at the ground. They were so dark that she knew it would be a storm - possibly a thunder storm if she hoped hard enough.

Ish was surprised about that last piece of information. After all, it was the goal of most Shinigami to eventually become a Captain, with few exceptions. This one really is unique... As he thought this, a small drop of rain hit his head, making him smile. Right on time. Glad to know that they are still doing their jobs with me on vacation. As he looked up at the sky, a streak of lightning tore through it, seeking a place to land, a place to call home. Ish then mentally slapped himself, he was getting too philisophical again.

Not quite... the way I see it, loyalty is simply something put in place to help curve your choices. It in itself doesn't matter, but the choices you make because of it most certainly do. For example, I have to ask... if you didn't want to become a captain, why did you? As he spoke, he looked towards the sky, which was now filled with dark clouds, which were spouting rain at an increasing pace. It's going to be a storm...

Yuki briefly smiled when she heard that he said it was going to storm - just the words she wanted to hear. However, she sighed softly at his question. She didn't like talking about it because it was pretty painful still - even after so many years - and it made her seem weak and... needy - two things she didn't like to be associated with. But he had answered all her questions, so she figured she could answer one of his.

"Well, before I was a captain I was the 11th seat of my division, but with enough reiatsu to be lieutenant or higher - though they didn't need any captains at the time. I was content with being the 11th seat and I refused offers from other divisions to move higher. The lieutenant of my division at the time was a person I had known since I was in the academy, he was already a shinigami - he's the reason why I became a shinigami - and we were... close I guess you could say.

However, for some reason he decided to betray Seireitei and the shinigami, and in light of his betrayel I decided to move up to a higher position, moving between the second and tenth division as I climbed, more befitting of my skills so that one day I would be able to catch him - if he's even still alive. Part of me hopes that he's dead because I don't know if I can kill him, but the other part of me hopes he's still alive so I can find out why he betrayed us." Why he betrayd me...

"It's been so many years now and I haven't heard mention of his name, so the chances of him being dead are pretty high. He's name is Okashii Hansamu." She didn't think he would ever meet him, but you never know.