Not Found [CLOSED]

It was always a strange thing, returning to a place you once knew so well. You've been away for so long, can't even remember entirely what it used to be like. Yet the moment you set your foot there, it's like you never left. The gears start turning and you settle right back into the flow of things. That was how Snopy felt being back in Karakura, being back in JAPAN. He was smart, he didn't have a language disconnect. He knew English, and some Chinese, but in his travels he also learned a bit of French, German, and Polish. Being able to communicate was not the problem. He was a stranger in a strange land. And being back here, even without a proper place to live, he was home. He knew the populace, he knew the customs, and everything made the most sense. Still, there was one slight issue. WHERE THE FUCK WAS SHADIN.

The whole reason for coming back to Karakura specifically was to find Shadin cause no one else seemed to even EXIST anymore. It's like they fell off the face of the earth. Either someone said their purpose was done and killed them off, or they just decided to retcon them. It made no sense, this wasn't some work of fiction this was real life. They had to be SOMEWHERE. The only solace he had to work with was Shadin's existence was still very obvious. The Yuudeshi network was still there, the Yayjuu still existed, people actually recognized his name. There was no way that this man was gone like the rest. He was tired of it. Having is girlfriend vanish was bad enough, but having everyone else? He would have NONE of it. Sadly it seemed, for whatever reason, the man was off doing god knows what. He had a life, Snopy understood, so he wouldn't be sitting in the HQ all day. Maybe it's be easier if he was more forceful, but he actually liked Shadin so he wasn't gonna just break into his base or threaten someone til they told him.

Snopy occasionally adjusted his trench coat as he inquired about. It was a bit strange to go around wearing a trench coat, but it was an insanely useful piece of clothing to have when exploring literally every environment he could. Plus it did sorta fit considering that without his Shikai, his guns were revolvers. Magical revolvers that blasted energy and could fire like a laser, but revolvers none the less. As his blonde hair blew in the breeze, he stopped as he looked at the towering buildings. Even at night, everything was lit up. He had a newfound appreciation for the wilderness having spent a lot of time in it, but he always did like a city's life and energy. He'd need to get a place. Both in the city, and in some untapped wilderness somewhere. He had given up everything to find the woman who meant the world to him, however he had to come to terms with it. She was gone, and he'd never know how or why she disappeared. She could have left him, she could have been kidnapped, or she could have been eaten by an extremely powerful demon. He never got closure, and odds were, she was killed. He'd have to move on with his life, she'd probably want that. No more time to chase ghosts, and now he had but one goal. To retake his life and forge himself something. He wasn't overly ambitious. He wasn't gonna take over Korea or Persia or something. Building himself a little something. A good house, a mansion maybe. Also one in the wilderness. Complete with servants and maybe even guards. His own little zone. And most importantly, infinitely more important than the material wealth he desired, he needed to forge some connections and friendships. He had gone too long without them.

So he searched downtown. Asking people occasionally, especially people who ran clubs and whatnot. Shadin seemed like he might occasionally indulge in the nightlife, at least once in awhile. Still no leads. He was about to give up and give in to the flow of the night and just enjoy himself, for once, when he saw something. Even with his resolution for forge his own destiny he was still recovering from being a broken man. Five years of a single failed monumental task can do that. So sometimes he still thought he saw her, in the shadows and the like. Yet this wasn't a shadow. There was a bright light shining on her. Was that? Was that Kanna? He knew he shouldn't get his hopes up, he knew it'd be mistaken identity. Yet he couldn't just let it go. He's been completely alone, literally no one, for way too long. Snopy gently pushed his way through the crowd until he reached her. "Kanna?" He'd say as he attempted to put his hand on her shoulder and gently turn her towards him. If she resisted he'd just remove his hand and move to the front of her. It was instantly obvious, this wasn't Kanna. The frame was similar, but he could name literally every difference in every detail of this woman's body. From obvious things like eye color to less obvious things like the shape of the arm. He deadpanned immediately. "I give up after 5 years and the universe decides to play tricks on me...or I suppose I've been looking for too long...I'm sorry, wrong person." Snopy then looked her up and down. Actually she could be related to Shadin. "You...aren't one of Shadin's daughters by chance are you? Eh, I suppose not. It'd make finding him way too easy."

Snopy immediately took a step back after he spun her, tilting his dominant arm in her direction. Unlike her, he was armed and his main Zanpakuto blade was on his right hip, therefore he tilted his left side to her. He had seen far more than enough combat to recognize an attempted sword draw. She didn't have a weapon, that he could see. Even if she couldn't conjure one, she might go for a punch. Still, when the punch didn't come he dropped his guard back to normal. She was clearly annoyed, but it softened pretty quickly. Apparently his reflexive vocalization of his annoyance and disappointment didn't bother her too much. What unfortunate luck that not only would she have some similar traits, she'd be similarly attractive. Made discerning her that much harder before he had already invaded this woman's space.

Then when he decided to casually ask if she was related to Shadin, she got this really weird smile on her face. Snopy tilted his head. What the heck, had he actually guessed correctly? "Uhh..." Snopy listened as she responded, why was her voice quivering? Why was her mouth quivering? What the hell did he just get himself into? She asked for confirmation. Her smile was definitely happiness, but something about her reaction made her wonder if she was trying to play it cool. "Yes...Shadin Yuudeshi, you okay? You sound like you owe him money and think he's gonna go bump in the night or something." He kinda wanted to see her response to that. If she did he'd be...curious as to what happened. Then she responded by snickering. Okay, so she wasn't afraid of the Beast going bump in the night.

"My apologies. Have a good evening." Snopy said, suddenly getting uncharacteristically formal before turning to go. He had interacted with so many people lately being able to casually dip out of a conversation was pretty easy. Then she continued, and he stopped and turned back. Anyone worth their mettle would keep the name? "I guess they wouldn't, no." Then she asked if he knew Shadin. Snopy wasn't exactly in the business of name dropping, but since he was asked. "It's been 5 years, but yeah. Knowing him would be an understatement I suppose. Ran into him on the street one night. Took note of me, I guess, for...well for reasons. He helped me out a bit, nearly killed me with some crazy thing he invented and wanted to try out...you know, Shadin." Snopy gently put a hand on the side of his head, around the temple. "That man is a piece of work. Unfortunately I come back to this country after 5 bloody years and Shadin is the only person I can confirm is still...around. And of course that jackass is nowhere to be found. The night I met him he casually blew a giant hole in the side of the complex, you'd think there'd be a trail of craters or something to locate the damned guy." Snopy sighed and shook it off. "Sorry, I don't mean to unload all this on you. I'm just...well I'm sorry none the less."

This woman was strange. Was he about to end up found dead in a bathtub? Who knows, probably not. He wanted to leave, but she'd have none of it. Upon stopping he turned around and just let her know. She could respond however she wanted, it didn't matter to him. Apparently she decided to stop and stare awkwardly. Of all choices, she picked the weirdest one. He raised his eyebrow for a second, before going and tugging on his ear. His head didn't budge from it's position, it did not buckle in the least. Unless she pulled waaaaay too hard, in which case he'd knock her hand away. "Stop apologizing so much." Wow, where had he heard that before. Kanna actually. Of course she continued, jokingly throwing around the word "Manly". Even more interestingly was this woman decided to assume that Kanna was his significant other. Well yes, she was. That wasn't the point.

Snopy cocked an eyebrow and got a very smug look on his face, sorta the one someone makes before saying "busted". "Appealing? Oh? And what do you think she is to me? And besides, I focus more on being me than often stiffly defined adjectives like 'manly'. In some ways I am, in some ways I'm not." He shrugged. Truthfully the last thing he felt like hearing was assumptions on what his missing and probably dead girlfriend would or wouldn't find appealing. Assumptions from a stranger weren't really appreciated, but it's not like she could know. "I'm not...too bothered, but in the future you may want to belay making assumptions of that nature. Others may not have had the time to...adapt." He was putting on a strong face because he had to be able to hold his head up high, but due to dedicating the last 5 years to finding out what happened, he hadn't had the time to fully desensitize himself to it. Time heals wounds, but only if you don't keep putting unneeded stress on the wound. Some might say dedicating 5 years to finding someone who was very dear to you because they vanished undue stress. Either way, where normally he was near impossible to read, he was doing a very poor job of hiding it this time around.

"Ya don't look very old." Snopy said very casually. "Young lady I'm going to need to see an ID, I don't know if you're old enough to be trusted with a Shadin. That's a controlled substance." Snopy tried to use a little humor to shake off the feelings from before. "Well you're outta luck. When he was helping me out he did point me to Zin, forget exactly why, but I never really took him up on that. I had other things I needed to sort out. And...lets just say unnecessary rules and protocols have a way of making things take way too long." Having to sneak around to see his girlfriend, ah how utterly broken the old Gotei was. Honestly it probably needed him, or at least people like him, back then, but it of course wanted nothing to do with him. "As for Shadin, I already told you, the man is surprisingly hard to locate.

You're going to have to look elsewhere I'm afraid." He was doing his best to be talkative enough to answer her questions, but he wasn't exactly feeling the most talkative.

Someone important. Yeah, he supposed that phrasing could be used. His mother was probably dead, he couldn't find his sister at the time. His dad was dead, and quite frankly his best friend at the time was surprisingly distant at the time. She was around, but she seemed...well looking back at it she might have had something she needed to talk about. He got a tad preoccupied with his work as a Shinigami and...well, Kanna. Regardless of that, the point is Kanna ended up being one of the few people he actually got close to. A tad odd seeing as in the beginning she wasn't exactly a pleasant person, in fact grumpy very well could be used to describe her. She definitely only put up with him in the beginning because he had promise when it came to Kido that she could teach. Probably the single only thing that made him worth her time. "You were indeed on the mark, I suppose."

As the conversation continued forward, she got this really goofy grin on her face as he called her young. So she liked being called young. How old was she exactly? He wasn't gonna ask, partially cause it'd be rude seeing as they just met, but mostly because he just didn't give a shit. What did he care? She looked young enough, what did it matter if she was 20, or 100, or 100,000, or fucking potato. She she could literally say her age was potato and he wouldn't care. He'd be confused, but he wouldn't care. If he had to guess it'd probably be somewhere near Kanna's age, like 400-500 or so. Then she goes and says she's definitely know him longer. "Not surprising, seeing as Shadin is hundreds of years old and I've know him for like 5 of them." Tsubine didn't even have to be that old either. If she was literally 6 years old, she had the capacity to know Shadin longer than Snopy did. He'd be impressed and a bit worried about what they're putting in food nowadays if she was 6 but hey, not his issue.

So finally she suggested they look together. Before she even let him answer though, he had to give her his name. "I didn't even say yes, what does my name even matter?" He asked quite bluntly. He wagged his finger at her in response to her one finger being up. "You riddle me that there Tsubine. I could just walk away never to be seen again until someone found me dead in an alley, my name wouldn't matter then would it?" He asked, but he didn't leave an opening for a response. "Snopy by the way. Snopy Saika." He really hoped he didn't have to recite from memory his speech on how he got that name, something that he memorized because everyone and their mother seems to care and ask about it. "And I suppose. Two heads are better than one, or so they say." He didn't know much about her. Nor did he know how much she knew about him. He was in a gigai though he wasn't exactly masking his energy. She knew Shadin though, she the odds of her being normal was slim to none. He crossed his arms. "So...since this was your idea, where should we start looking? You've known him longer, after all. You'd know better than me?" He had a cocky smile on his face for a few seconds, but then it went serious. "I...I'm serious, I've checked what I thought were the obvious spots, I have no bloody clue."

This woman was...agonizingly polite. Even more, he figured one thing out for certain. She had NO idea he wasn't just some average low powered being. That was kind of funny. Regardless of if she was stronger or not, that was funny. And Kun? Honorifics? That thing Snopy has used sparsely for years. He only used them the bare minimum to not cause some kind of massive discontent and that was it. If she was hoping for one in return well she'd better make a good case. Hey, he wasn't THAT stubborn. He'd do it if it really mattered to someone. "I really don't think you would." He responded after her comment on paying respects. There's a lot more to a person than a name. Then she went on to say that she knew he was serious. That he believed. Shadin was a bitch to find. Snopy put his hands in his pockets and took a few steps away from Tsubine, looking up towards the top of some of the skyscrapers in the horizon. It's strange, it wasn't like he was away from civilization. It wasn't even that long ago that he was in London, and even shorter since he had been in Kyoto. The architecture of Karakura was...different. Even from other Japanese dome cities. Having superseded basically every other city in the world in terms of tech and size will do that. "It's a big city, when he isn't blowing shit up he's a rather small physical stamp over this mass of infrastructure." Then he looked down and at the crowds of people making their way through the streets. "Do you even know where to look?"

He let her go on as she relayed what she knew about Shadin, and how he wasn't so easy to find. He preferred relaxing. She also went on reminiscing a bit. He really didn't have much room to relate, at least with them. He glanced back towards her as she went on, viewing her from the corner of his eye. He chuckled as a small smile formed and he turned his head forward again, once again looking away. "Reminds me of someone." Hot damn was his sister was always way to eager to go and do things. Probably not in the same way this Zin was, she was always more of a "LETS GO PLAY" when she was younger and "COME ON, LETS GO OUT AND HAVE SOME FUN" when she was older. She...really liked going out to enjoy herself. She knew responsibility, she just was too energetic. She could always work her butt off, get it done super fast, and then still have energy to do what the hell ever. Honestly he probably had a few things in common with Shadin, he could be flashy too. He was just a lot less...extreme about it.

Then she went on about Kisuke Urahara. "Hey, at least he's somewhere." He said, turning his entire upper body around to look at her. Better than Kanna who disappeared entirely.
"Eh, the importance of a duty is subjective." Yes he heard her, you don't spend your youth as a spiritual sniper with weak senses. You also don't sleep in bum fuck nowhere on your travels and have poor senses. That's a surefire way to be caught with your pants down. He looked onward once more. "Hmm..." He said, placing one hand on his hip, while the other was removed from his pocket. "It's the Yayjuu by the way. They have a lovely little base down the way." He casually pointed to the side. He remembered Shadin's nonsense like it was yesterday. "Old renovated stadium. Large steel gates and heavy guard. I don't know if the guard I saw was in a bad mood or what, but he turned me away entirely and wouldn't listen. Maybe took me for some random dumbass who wanted to meet Shadin. I wasn't exactly about to break in, though of course that'd get Shadin's attention from wherever he was. Still, I have no intention of random hostility until Shadin shows up." Snopy turned back to Tsubine. "Guard may have rotated shifts, perhaps we can find someone actually helpful. Of course, sneaking past them could work, not that we'd be hidden for long. Honestly, if we try for it, my money's on finding someone guarding the entrance who will actually listen. Either let us in or at least pass on a name to Shadin when he is next back. Better than ducking our head into every lounge and club in the city."