Breath of Destiny [Murasaki, Byakuya]

It wasn't exactly hard to make her way into what had once been the headquarters of her division. Murasaki was, after all, the former leader of this place. Some people were glad to see her; some, she imagined, thought of her as some traitor to the Soul Society. She wasn't paying any mind to any of them, however. She had other things to do here, and the people who'd sworn their allegiances to this particular group weren't going to get her attention one way or another. At least, not yet.

She simply walked past those who attempted to stop her from going to her office, not that many were trying to seriously stand in the way of both herself and Komamura. As far as she was concerned, after all, it was still her office. Pushing the door open, she simply walked in as if it were the most natural thing to do, and began looking for her belongings. She'd always kept things around that looked pretty normal in an office like this, calligraphy from a long time ago and a few antiques, so it wasn't any surprise they'd just sort of stayed in the room.

"Heya, Mr. Byakuya. Don't mind me, I'm just pickin' up my stuff. Shouldn't take long."

"Pretty relative term."

Murasaki would hardly say she'd gotten out of the crushing weight of the Dangai without it being much of a challenge, but she wasn't hugely interested in explaining the finer details of that, mostly because it didn't really matter. She simply began inspecting the boxes of her own belongings, her demeanor still profoundly relaxed given the situation. Of course, that wasn't to say her guard was lowered, but that was simply who Murasaki was. She was always on high alert, even without needing to think about it.

"Mr. Komamura told me about what happened, so I've got a pretty good idea. You guys sure didn't waste any time takin' over, huh? Really swooped right on in ASAP. I'm kinda impressed, honestly."

There was no particular hostility in Murasaki's tone or presence as she spoke, primarily because she simply wasn't the sort to linger on that degree of negative emotion. Doing so was antithetical to who she was; it was antithetical to everything she'd ever tried to become. She simply offered it up as if it were any other earnest observation.

"Hm? What part, you sayin' you agreed about the nobility stayin' out of the Gotei? I told 'em, but actions speak louder than words, ya know. Showin' up and sayin' Central 46 gave ya the right to take my job sorta makes that seem like you're just a huge liar, can't blame anyone for takin' it that way. 'Course, I don't think ya are, so maybe you just really trust 'em, or think their money and support's gonna stick to ya like glue even if ya immediately tell 'em to buzz off. I'm not gonna tell ya how to think."

Murasaki did find it faintly baffling that he imagined any degree of trust might have made for a smooth transition of power from her own trusted second to some guy coming in and making a grab for authority that he didn't legally have. Was this a noble thing? It baffled her just as much if he thought Central 46 would suddenly chill out because he said so.

"The what? Oh, is that what you're namin' this thing? Gonna assume it's not like 'caption' so, like, 'imperial command?' Not bein' very subtle, huh. Anyway, no, I'm definitely not stickin' around the Soul Society under the same nobles that wanted me dead when I was a kid, 'specially not ones who voted to take my job less than a day after I disappeared and didn't have any faith in my Vice Captain. I'll be goin' back to Earth. Takin' some shinigami with me, handlin' the balance and hollow purification down there. Huntin' down Kurosaki and Urahara."

Taking a seat on one of the boxes of her belongings once she'd affirmed that everything was in its place, Murasaki simply rested a hand on her chin, her eyes meeting Byakuya's with a cutting focus that seemed profoundly at odds with the overly casual way she always carried herself. A composure and self-awareness that was leagues beyond anyone else she knew.

"And makin' sure Central 46 doesn't go sinkin' its claws into the Living Realm, of course. Don't think they need to go tryin' to build any more influence than they've already got here in the Seireitei."

"You are Central 46, Mr. Byakuya. Maybe ya don't like it, but ya can't claim the job under their authority and then say ya don't represent 'em. Unless you are doin' that, in which case, you're comin' off extra untrustworthy, or at least wishy-washy. I'm not really worried about the Koizumi doin' anything in favor of Central 46. Not like we're super close or anything, but Vice Captain Koizumi was reliable, and I'm pretty sure she hates you guys, like, way more than I do."

Murasaki didn't really have 'hate' in her, even against people who had slighted her at the most grievous. It wasn't productive, wasn't practical, didn't make her better in any capacity. She'd wasted more than enough of her life on hate.

"You should expect that I'm gonna tell anybody from the Imperial Mandate to go back to the Imperial Court they belong to. Just 'cause the job's for shinigami, that doesn't mean you noble folks get to monopolize the job. There's plenty of balancing to get handled up here."

"Not sure endorsements from them are doin' ya any favors. I've got no love for Yamamoto's original group of thugs, and Yuuto's made it pretty clear his loyalty's bought by bein' nice to him. Either way, it wasn't their authority that made it, and I'm sure Central 46 wouldn't be super keen to keep offerin' any funding or support if you started doin' stuff they didn't like. And then they'd probably nominate someone else to be the new guy in charge, seein' as you guys decided they can do that again."

Just because Murasaki didn't like or care about politics didn't mean she failed to understand them. No, she understood them exceedingly well, in fact. You couldn't dance around it without knowing exactly what to look for, after all. She was an astute woman, someone that noticed the little things, and unlike most people like that, Murasaki tended to simply point them out as frankly as possible. She didn't like being indirect, because being indirect wasted everyone's time.

"Point is, you're all on the Central 46 payroll. The stuff ya do is on their behalf, and at their approval. Even if ya did offer cooperation, make all these intricate agreements, not really any good reason I should let ya just handle stuff down on Earth, is there? I'm guessin' the guys down in Wahrender wouldn't wanna do much work with ya, anyway. Oh, that's the Vandenreich's new name, B-T-dubs. Last time you guys were in charge, it took 50 years to handle a hollow like Grand Fisher, but ya did handle that Quincy genocide pretty quick, and I'm sure they remember that real well. Pretty confident you guys' methods aren't really what Earth needs right now."