Did ya miss me? [Law, Murasaki(actually SwordBro)]

It had been... quite a while since Law had stepped foot in Soul Society. After he'd fought for Vastime in the war, he'd been caught up in a lot of random bullshit, that in all honesty, he had no business getting involved with. Also he'd lost an arm, not a huge deal, although it hurt sometimes. But here he was, rolling back up, proverbial big dick swinging. The first thing he chose to do upon his return was to see how Murasaki was doing, obviously. He remembered that she'd been in a bit of a rough patch the last time he'd seen her, and was hoping that it had passed by now.

He leisurely made his way through the courtyard that divided the several divisions base of operations, eventually arriving outside of the headquarters of the Seventh Division. It looked much like he remembered it, some small changes here and there, nothing to really take note of, although there were a few people he didn't recognize milling about. He wasn't quite sure if he didn't recognize them because they had arrived after the last time he'd been here, or if was because they were just that unremarkable. Either way, it made no difference.

He made his way to the door, taking no heed of anyone who may have tried to step in his way, approached the Captains quarters, and knocked a few times before simply opening the door. Murasaki looked much like she had the last time he'd seen her, although there was some as of yet unrecognizable difference. Law didn't concern himself too much with this, and simply caught her eye, and relayed the simple message he'd come to deliver.

"Did ya miss me?"

He thought that was quite clever, although after he said it, he thought perhaps it hadn't been the right thing to say.

If Murasaki would have made any response, there was surely no time for it to occur; no sooner had she laid eyes on the man before her, than the figure of a far more malicious entity appeared between the two. What was normally a relaxed demeanor was completely absent, and in its place was a killing intent so apparent that even an untrained child might have seen it at a glance. His blade was already in hand, called from Murasaki's hip without so much as a glance.

"I can't say we did."

Any further words would have been outside Kagayaku's nature, and he didn't want to waste his time with trash, regardless. Instead, he simply moved forward with a speed every bit equal to his daughter's -- that was to say, at a speed well beyond the capabilities of most. Frankly, in most instances that alone could have been a killing blow. But his own indecisiveness, on whether the matter was one which merited a swift death or a painful one, left enough of an opening for one to react. He might have chided himself inwardly for such an error, but at the moment, there was no room for such a thing.

In the moment, Kagayaku wanted only blood.

Although Law had lost an arm, he was still quite confident in his swordsmanship. That, along with the fact that he could tell the other party had obviously hesitated, gave him all of the opportunity he needed to swiftly block the strike that would have, by all rights, ended his life. He locked swords with the strange man, and then, with a flourish of his blade, repelled the attack that had come from nowhere.

"Who the fuck even are you, and why are you trying to kill me. Don't get me wrong, if you want a fight, you've fucking got it, but I'm gonna need more than a one liner from a man I've never met. I've been through the most inane bullshit for the past year, lost my whole ass fucking arm, and more fights than I'm willing to admit, and right when I think I'm in a safe environment, I get this shit. So yeah, if you wanna go, let's fucking go, but I promise you I won't lose."

Law had always been egotistical, quick to anger, and generally the one to start a fight, but that wasn't the case in this situation. Another flaw of his was that he had an exceedingly difficult time deescalating a situation, and basically everything he'd just said, he imagined, had made things worse. It was strange to realize exactly what his words would entail, and still say them regardless, but he was beyond pissed. It had been a rough year, and he wasn't about to take any shit.

With that being said, he didn't immediately go on the offensive either. He was still ready to fight at any time, but he was waiting to see if the other party would elaborate on what exactly was going on before he made any movements of his own. With this in mind, Law kept a defensive posture, but a defensive posture that could quickly and easily be altered in such a way that he could attack at his leisure.

It was certainly for the best that Law had kept his composure, rather than immediately responding with violence. While her father was certainly ready to carry on his offensive, Murasaki grabbed the zanpakuto itself, still on her hip, and quickly sealed him into the blade. The action was only accompanied by a sharp, clearly irritated, "Cut it out, dad." Rubbing the bridge of her nose, she looked to her guest, and her first reaction was to pour a cup of sake.

Just one.

There were a lot of responses to this situation that she could probably have had. Maybe some were more rational than others, and one or two would have made her father happy to see. But whether she liked it or not, acting on impulse wasn't really in the cards for her these days. She just sat quietly at her desk, letting the pregnant silence carry on for as long as she felt the need to think. Finally, she took another sip, and looked up to Law with what could only be described as a cold and judging glare.

"You're pretty late."

Law was somewhat surprised when Murasaki suddenly took over the encounter, and the man who stood before him disappeared into the ether. That wasn't to say he didn't consider this to be a positive outcome, in fact, he absolutely did. Still, it wasn't every day that you witnessed something like this, so it took him a second or two to understand what was going on. In the end he obviously realized what had happened, but it didn't make much of a difference either way, at least not at the moment, so he decided not to mention it. Instead he simply replied to what Murasaki had stated.

"Yeah, well... Shit happens would be a bit of an understatement. I'm sure you know that at the start of World War 4 I was leading a ship for Vastime. I moved to capture a stronghold of theirs off of the coast of Florida, and succeeded. There was a single survivor, however. I do not know his name, nor did I care to find out, but he was strong. He used his demon magic to transport the both of us to Demon World. He would have taken all of the men under me as well, but I used my room to negate the effect. I would have preferred to use that ability on myself as well, but I was too far separated from the group."

Law recounted this part of his story without much difficulty, but as he began to speak of his time in Demon World, his expression began to darken. Obviously it was not a tale he enjoyed retelling.

"After we arrived in Demon World, I continued to fight this trash for several hours until he eventually made a misstep, and I took his life... and he took my arm. It generally wouldn't be much of an issue for me to reattach or recreate an arm, but this wound is infected with Demon magic, and I can't interact with it. At least not at the moment. I looked for a way to return, but I made little progress. Eventually I just took to hunting down demons until I could find one that could help me, and by random chance, I found one as it was in the process of creating a portal to Earth, and that was about a day ago. I'll write up a report sometime, I'm sure you don't want to sit through several hours of me detailing the last year of my life."

As Law said this he sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair.

"It's nice to see ya again by the way, Cap.

Murasaki was a good listener, even when she was in a less than stellar mood. She sipped occasionally from her glass, but nevertheless gave Law her full attention. Of course she'd noticed the missing arm, but she also wasn't going to just ask about it right away. His story wasn't one she really had much reason to think was untrue if he'd just gone AWOL, they would have known. And Demon World wasn't a place he'd have wanted to go AWOL.

"Least you're home now."

She could practically feel her dad rolling his eyes, and hear his groan of disapproval in the back of her head, as she poured a second glass of sake and slid it over to Law. She was annoyed, there was no beating around the bush about that. But if she assumed that he was telling the truth, then her annoyance no longer had a valid target. She'd just have to deal with it herself, now.

As Murasaki poured a second glass of sake, Law looked on with little displayed interest. She slid it to him, and he grasped it, immediately downing it in its entirety. As he did so, he thought about the past year of his life. He thought about the time he'd spent in Demon World, and the sacrifice he'd made that had ended up stranding him there. He thought of the anger he'd felt when he realized that he was trapped. He thought of the absolute dread that had overtaken him when he realized that he may never be able to escape. Everything came flooding back to him in one swift motion, and it was damn near overwhelming. He had never let it affect him when it was happening, but now that it was over, it seemed to have more of an impact. Perhaps it was that he knew, subconsciously, that he didn't have time to dwell on his current situation. He'd been forced to live in the moment for almost an entire year, and now that he was finally able to take a moment to consider what had happened to him, it was a lot to take in.

He almost suppressed it all. Almost, but not quite. There was a noticeable pause before he began to speak again, and he seemed to be genuinely uncomfortable, if only for a moment. Something that no person who had been in contact with him for several decades would be able to say that they had seen. He took a few moments to collect himself, and then he decided to say what he'd thought for every day of the year that had been his living hell.

"Hey Murasaki. I think I'm in love with you."

The first time he'd used her name, and not the casual, but distanced, Cap, or more formally, Captain. Was it the best way to break that news? Certainly not, but it was objectively the only way that he was going to do it, and there wasn't a world in which he didn't see himself letting this be known after the hell he'd been through.

Murasaki, for all her expectations, hadn't really considered that those would be Law's next words. It was just as well that she was real good at hiding her emotions. Not because of surprise, or embarrassment, or anything like that. Even if those would have been a lot better, that wasn't what Murasaki was covering so effortlessly right now.

No, more than anything, it was just frustration.

"What makes you say that?"

It wasn't dismissive, or accusatory. His words carried a decided unsure tone to them, and she couldn't help but acknowledge it, if only for his sake more than hers. She refilled her own sake glass, and Law's as well, just considering the situation as it currently was. There was no real reason why he should love her, at least in that deep a way. The heart wasn't exactly sensible or anything, though, she knew that better than a lot of people. But given what he'd been through, she didn't exactly feel confident saying this was something she could call heartwarming. Still, she'd wait for his answer. She didn't like making assumptions.

Law retained his original posture. He listened to Murasaki, and noticed that she had refilled his glass, but for the time being he payed that no mind.

"What makes me say it? That's a good question. I guess I could say the fact that it's true makes me say it, as I generally speak my mind, but that would be a lie. No, there were plenty of times I could have said it because it was true, and yet it went unsaid. Hell, I probably could have said it shortly after our first meeting if I were to say it for that reason alone, although with much less surety. I could say that it's because I've realized how important I think you are, but I realized that a long time ago. I could say that it's because I greatly valued the way you carried yourself, the way you interacted with the world, which was entirely different from my own personal way of doing so, and that every second that I was in your presence when you were in... whatever state it was that you were in directly before my being trapped in demon world was an agonizing torture that I never want to experience again. But no, what makes me say it now is something else entirely."

Law paused for a moment, considering how to express what he wanted to say. A rare occurence, but this was a rare situation.

"I suppose it's the knowledge that, at any time, for any number of reasons, the ability to say it could forever be lost to me, something that has only just recently hit home. I don't know how much you know about my past, Murasaki, but there are very few things that I would be unable to bear. I can safely say that would be one of them."

Murasaki's attention to Law never wavered as he spoke. She didn't feel especially uncomfortable with the topic at hand, or as though this was a situation she needed to get out of. Things like this happened, after all. Really, how many times had she left town even after someone told her they loved her and asked her to stay? Eh...bad example.

"Well, you know I value honesty. But I guess I sort of worded that question the wrong way. Why are you in love with me?"

It was a bit of a pointed response, but it was one she felt needed to be asked. Taking another small sip of her sake, Murasaki sight internally before she continued, more exasperated at the continued impatience from her father than at anything on Law's end.

"We've known each other for a while, but we don't know very much about each other, do we? Because you're right, Law, I don't know very much about your past at all. I don't think there's anything wrong with falling for someone quick, I've done that before. But I've also found it can lead to a lot of disappointment when the person's different from what made you feel that way about them, or when you realize they're really just not all that great."