@flashkitty asked:
"Whatever it is, this time I'll not get involved. I'll have a beautiful summer vacation at the beach, drink lots of cocktails and have an awesome time skinny dipping. Whatever this whole hell thing is all about it, count me out!" ( Hi Silk, I love you♥ )
This whole Hell thing...
They'd come perilously close to it in Askin's Gift Bereich, hadn't they? Shinigami of their caliber certainly met the qualifications — at least as Wardens, if not inmates. Had they died... had he let her die... He wondered sometimes that she was still speaking to him, considering how frivolously he'd treated that whole exchange.
But there'd been a moment, long ago, when he could have dodged that end altogether, couldn't he? His sentencing, a century prior, to live in exile, as a human, stripped of his powers... Had it been carried out, he could have retired. He'd have lived and died as a human, arrived at Soul Society as just another Plus, continued in the Cycle as most ordinary souls. But then, what of the eight? Doomed to destruction, the additional power granted by their Hollowfication would certainly have qualified even the lieutenants among them for consignment within the infernal gates — and likely not as Wardens.
But to save them meant she must save him.
From retirement.
For Hell.
He didn't mind; he'd always assumed that end for himself. It was a small price to pay, his fate in exchange for their reprieve.
For him, for her, for anyone of their reii level, there was really only one way of being 'counted out': Avoid situations that might result in death.
"Ah, what a delightful idea, Yoruichi-san! By all means, you should enjoy your—" He almost said 'retirement.' But there was no sense in fooling anyone, least of all her. "—rest. You've more than earned it!"
His smile was bright and sunny, not giving an inkling as to his dark reflections. He'd not want to invite her into all that. "Perhaps I'll join you!"
