Precious Things [Murasaki, Alastor]

It'd been natural that Murasaki would be busy lately, and everything surrounding Ichigo Kurosaki had been nothing short of a headache for pretty much everyone. But she'd been doing her best to support everyone, and naturally, that included the one person most dear to her.

"Hey hey, mister man, ya home?"

If it were anyone else, she would have knocked before she entered, but she knew Alastor would hardly mind his girlfriend showing up. Besides, she knew things were still kinda stressful for him right now, and she figured she oughta do what she could for him. That was why she had a big bento in her hands, with a pot of tea atop.

Pissed summarised his attitude, at least for the first couple of weeks since the Ichigo event on Earth. He'd honestly have been way less pissed by the whole thing if he didn't learn the details that his sister had got herself put in the hospital over it. That arrancar was dead. D. E. A. D.

"Jeez. You bitch, none of that's helpful!"

He shouted at the nodachi that was in his hand from sitting on the side of his bed. He wasn't an idiot to know that his zanpakuto spirit didn't mind the insults, it actually just made her more insufferable since she enjoyed getting under his skin a bit but she was also pretty heated. They'd been at each other's throats over differences in views and being too stubborn to yield but he was pretty prickly towards her out of little more than frustration about being unable to really do anything about the situation.

"Huh? Oh.. Yeah, what's up?."

Like nothing was amiss, she did have a pretty calming aura about her. He was with the toughest girl about after all and it could get a little bumpy but the tension disappeared from his body as he slouched a little bit with her arrival. It was pretty relaxing to have her around.

It certainly caught Murasaki off guard to hear Alastor yelling like that, though she'd at least heard enough about his relationship with his zanpakuto to have a pretty decent idea of what was going on here. With a sigh, she set down the lunch she'd brought and made her way right to her man, wrapping her arms gently around him.

"Just came ta see how you're doin'. Seems like I came at a good time, huh?"

Murasaki spoke a little more pressingly than was the norm for her, though it wasn't especially pointed or anything like that. No, she just wanted to do what she could for him, and she didn't like seeing him in such a bad mood.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Did he want to talk about it? Not really, it always felt weird just being all open and stuff about feelings. Sure he was honest and all that but he was also pretty stoic most of the time. Supporting people close to him was what he wanted to do most, wasn't much good if that rock turned to sand all of a sudden and boy did he feel a bit like sand right now.

Not like he could just say no to if he wanted to talk about it though, that was just a transparent dodging of her question.

"Just frustrated about things. A whole lotta nothing to be done about 'em."

He answered while wrapping an arm around her to reposition her on his lap and let her get comfortable. He'd spent a good week beating himself up over it, out in the training and also mentally over it but he sure wasn't some super talented prodigy or genius like a couple of these shinigami. He wasn't going to be able to beat someone like Ichigo in three months.

"Mm... I see."

Nestling against Alastor as she was pulled up against him, Murasaki thought about how best to word what she wanted to say here. It was a delicate issue, after all, and she didn't want to seem insensitive or anything like that. She hummed a little tune as she thought, figuring it might help create a more soothing atmosphere, before finally speaking in a gentle, but firm tone.

"Don't ever say there's nothin' to be done, Alastor. We'll figure things out. If you wanna train, we can do that. If you wanna take some time down in the City of Lights to make sure your sister's okay, we can make that happen. I know things are hard right now, but remember you're not all alone, yeah?"

She'd relied on him a lot through their relationship, and now it was about time for Murasaki to do the same. It wasn't just some sort of obligation or anything, of course. Alastor meant a lot to her, and she wasn't the sort to let the guy she loved just suffer through all this alone.

"Even if ya just need to lay your head on my lap or take a little nap, that's alright too. Just don't let yourself get too caught up in all this, okay? I don't wanna see ya caught up in your head."

After all, the last thing she wanted was for him to end up where she'd been years ago.

Training. Yeah, it felt like the best thing to do. He wasn't going to pretend he didn't want to go down and give his sister a piece of his mind about her safety but he knew how that would end up. Really it'd probably only blow up worse so the substitute shinigami really didn't want to go make a big diplomatic dispute over a family thing. That little sister of his really couldn't just be happy doing nothing somewhere safe and out of the way.

"Yeah, I know."

He pulled her just a bit closer, the feeling that he'd failed as an older brother still there while taking in everything about the woman in his lap. The contours of her as his hand ran over her back, whatever perfume she was wearing, the green that filled his eyes.

"I just don't know how to go about killin' the arrancar that fucked with my sister."

Muttering it through grit teeth he tensed a little bit at how mad the whole thing made him. It was like just being in this spot was irritating to know that he was sitting here idle while that bastard just roamed about and did whatever he wanted and those Vandenreich people that talked a big game but were just all bark. His sister was among a bunch of wimps just asking to be beaten to a pulp by someone stronger than them.

"None of us do right now. I'd be lyin' if I said it was some easy problem that we've got a solution to. I'm not gonna lie to people and say we've got it all in the bag, but I won't let him keep doin' things like that. That's not what the Gotei is here for."

No matter what Ichigo Kurosaki had been, he was a hollow now, and it was the Gotei's duty to protect the balance, and the world of the living, from rampaging Hollows. That made their former Substitute into nothing short of the biggest enemy in Soul Society, but Murasaki had gotten reports of other Arrancar as well. This was going to be a dark time, all things considered.

"If you want, I can see about having you put on more patrols, or we can get you involved with 4th Division if you want to get stronger. I've got every intention of making sure the Gotei doesn't let this just slide. But please don't take too many risks, alright?"

Her voice was a bit intense as she said that, not quite forceful, but clearly serious about what she said. The last thing she wanted was Alastor getting hurt during his efforts.

He couldn't really say he was thinking of the Gotei or even his role as a substitute shinigami right now. It was among the furthest things in the back of his head, right now he was an older brother that just wanted to stomp a guy's head in.

Soul cycle? Hollows? Duty? None of that. Just good old revenge was what he wanted on Ichigo.

"Yeah. You're right."

The fiery redhead answered with no real bravado to his voice. The kind of energy he was feeling right now was no different to a fire running through a forest. He really ought to cool it though it didn't come naturally to him.

Man, his sister was a stupid brat. Getting herself so messed up.

It was genuinely disheartening to hear Alastor speak in such a way, but it wasn't like it was surprising at all. This wasn't something anyone would take well, and Murasaki simply wrapped her arms more closely around him, resting her head on his shoulder and running a hand comfortingly down his back.

"We'll get through this, promise. Whatever we gotta do."

It wasn't an empty promise, but rather a very wide one. Murasaki wasn't the sort who had every possibility lined up in her head, but she didn't need to. She knew what she was doing in the moment, and whatever was necessary, she'd figure it out when she had to.

"Love you."

He returned the gesture, keeping a good hold on her. Man, he was really making her worry huh. His whole mood right now felt a bit hollow which was unlike him. It wasn't that hard to figure out why that was but he didn't like how it was affecting her and so he pulled her in tighter and gave a small squeeze.

"I know we will. Get through anything, right?"

It wasn't the same energy that he had but that was just the kind of guy he was. It was better when people weren't relying on him since he tried to be the one that they could rely on especially when his girlfriend had her hands full with her job since getting that big promotion.

"Love you too. You hungry? I can heat it up if you need."

Not his best joke but he was trying to reassure her that he wasn't shook up and still the same guy as before.