All Noble Things Are Touched [Rukia, Himiko]

Honestly, after everything personal going on in Rukia's life, there was something almost relaxing about just getting to focus on work. Not that she was complaining about her personal life or anything, but it did feel like a lot of her days ended up fairly quiet when she wasn't with Shiro. Ah, well. Knocking on the door of her assigned partner's yurt, Rukia called out a short, polite greeting.

"Himiko Shikimura? It's Rukia Kuchiki. We're going out on patrol together."

As she waited for a reply, it did occur to Rukia that what she'd heard of this woman's relationship made it sound like it was probably a headache and a half. Dating royalty down on Earth? That just sounded like a serious hassle. Rukia knew how nobles were, and she couldn't imagine that being too great at all.

Wait, hadn't she been trying to think about work?

"Okie dokie, Ku-chi-ki-chan~!"

She jovially said while poking her head outside of the yurt, the impish grin betrayed no small amount of playful mischief. You had to keep a grin on your face and make the work atmosphere fun, right? Well, that was her philosophy on it anyway and after a pause to wait to see the reaction she giggled and pulled her head back in.

"Just lemme get changed and we can go."

It wasn't like she lived and breathed in that uniform, her's was cute and all but that's because she'd changed it up a bit and added a super cute little scarf to it. The plain shihakusho was just so unfashionable after all but it was still nice to wear other things which is why it took her a few minutes to come out of the yurt with her uniform on and ready. Ears and tail betraying her excitement at the idea of a patrol.

"Ready when you are... Ku-chi-ki-chan."

Why did she exaggerate every syllable? She just thought it sounded cuter that way.

On one hand, Rukia couldn't say she'd ever been referred to like that. At least, not without it being condescending. On the other hand, she didn't actually mind it all that much. Himiko's general demeanor was pretty welcome, all things considered. She wasn't looking to go out on patrol with someone who would make this a chore.

"Just Rukia is fine. Hopefully you don't mind if I just call you Himiko?"

Honestly, she doubted that would be an issue at all, given her attitude, but you never know with these things. Besides, Rukia couldn't help but feel as though she was faintly familiar, a general sense that she ought to be polite nagging at the back of her mind. Weird.

"This shouldn't be a long patrol, just a day trip so we'll be in and out before too long. I understand you've got some familiarity with Germany, so I hope you don't mind if I rely on you a bit for getting around."

"Aww but doesn't it sound cute when I say your name like that? Well, that's fine. Rukia's still a cute name too."

Not exactly dejected or even offended by the request, Himiko just spoke her mind a little too much.

"Sure! Germany is great, in fact a lot of Europe is great. I'll totes show you around, we can even drop into my boyfriend's for lunch maybe if we get hungry."

Any excuse even if it didn't seem as professional as one might hope to hear. Himiko didn't get fazed at all by fact that she brazenly suggested and wanted to go along with this idea.

"So we going now like right right now?"

One could only wonder what had her so eager to get to the World of the Living, was it the scenery or the patrol itself? Maybe!

"Er, well... I guess it does sound cute, yeah."

That thought hadn't especially crossed Rukia's mind, but now that it had been brought to her attention, she had to concede that Himiko had a point. Of course, the idea that even her given name was cute threw her off all the more, but she hardly minded that compliment.

"Yeah, unless you have anything you need to get done we can get going now. Your boyfriend is royalty, right? I've heard that around the division."

Given how enthusiastic Himiko seemed to be about it, Rukia didn't exactly feel like it was prying to ask that question so directly. It was honestly just small talk, the usual sort of conversation you made when you were working.

"Uh huh. He's like an Emperor and stuff."

She didn't linger too much on the fact he was an emperor or more specifically, the Holy Roman Emperor. Instead she began to set off towards the Senkaimon with a hand grabbing at Rukia's wrist and dragging her in tow. They had a lot of places to be and a certain place to get to in particular.

"He's so big and handsome and dreamy, uwah! It's like a fairy tale. Don't you think?"

The matter of his royal status was after all, something that she didn't linger on. Position was such a silly thing to linger on as far as she was concerned but out in the woods and living like a wild child the whole idea of social class never really stuck with her. It was just something that existed around her.

Any response Rukia would have made was rather quickly stifled by the fact that she was being dragged along. Of course, she didn't really mind it too much, if only because she was fairly used to it and could keep up just fine. It was just somewhat surprising.

"A fairy tale, huh? Well most people aren't caught up in love stories with emperors, so I'd say it's definitely close to one, yeah."

This wasn't really the sort of conversation she had expected, but then again, Rukia couldn't actually say she knew what sort of conversation she should have been expecting. This wasn't so bad, though, so she couldn't complain.

"How did you two meet? That's pretty important in any fairy tale."

"We met over coffee and then we went out camping - it was a magical time - and then we just ended up going from there you know? Just stuff like that."

She might've contemplated about asking Rukia why she was so interested in her boyfriend but the thought did not cross her mind and instead she came to a different approach to tackling the interest which remained in blissful ignorance.

"But enough about my boyfriend, tell me about your's if you wanna talk about boys."

If not for her overly friendly tone and air-headed behaviour, the Kuchiki might've assumed that she was malicious in trying to bait out her single nature - if one would assume as such. Himiko was no such person though and only suffered from the lack of wit.

She'd done well thus far to live without them though, right?

Rukia certainly hadn't been ready for that question to be posed, though in hindsight, she probably should have been. It was only fair, honestly. But considering how things had gone last with Shiro...

"Well, he's...he's a good guy. Having him in this division is nice for being able to see him."

For her part, Rukia wasn't entirely sure just how much people even really knew about her and Shiro's relationship, but if nothing else it was entirely on public record. Anyone who really felt like they needed to know could just know about it. Did that mean she expected Himiko had read those records? No, not at all.

"I guess I hadn't really meant to 'talk about boys.' They're... I mean, I know enough I guess. But it's not something I really talk about."

She knew that was pretty transparently false, and that she, in fact, knew almost nothing about guys in the slightest.

"Oh? He's in the division? Who is it? Is it that guy with white hair and covered in scars?"

Himiko couldn't say she had been as up to snuff as she was with the boys of the division since she got a boyfriend, not like when she was single and she knew all the gossip and fish in the waters. Now she was pretty content with the one that she had landed and didn't mind the dive in to get it either.

"Awww, that's so lame though. What else do you talk about with your girlfriends if not boys? Make up and fashion can only go so far."

She ventured, oblivious to the fact that none of those probably were her cup of tea. Rukia wasn't one of those kinds of girls was she?