Supremacy, Sonority, Tranquility [Makoto, Shishiyuki]

"...I see. And you wish to know if I am that woman, if my kiss is the same as hers."

Shishiyuki felt faintly insulted, but ultimately, she could not blame Makoto for feeling the way that she did. It was a difficult position that Shishiyuki had been put into, but ultimately, she understood that Makoto had put a great deal of faith into her. After all, if she were this woman from Makoto's past, it would be all too easy now to handle the matter. She thought for a moment, hand on one temple, before looking to Makoto with a certain degree of intensity.

"I would ask that you close your eyes if I am to do this for you. Even if this would never leave this room, for the sake of my own principles I still must know that none have ever laid eyes on it. Do you understand?"

She respected Makoto, trusted her. Shishiyuki put no particular value on the idea of the sanctity of a first kiss, had no sense that she was somehow to be sullied by this action or that it carried any deeper emotional meaning between the two. It was a method of making her identity clear to Makoto, and nothing else.

"Honesty is not, in itself, a virtue. We must sometimes lie for the sake of others, so that they are not harmed by unfortunate truths we carry with us."

What a difficult position she had been put into, whether Makoto intended it or not. Her principles, and her own love for her family, clashed rather handily with her own fondness for her student at the moment. Shishiyuki was not the sort to have some sort of earth-shattering revelation from something such as this, of course. She would not suddenly shift on a stance she had held for over a thousand years on account of one emotional conversation.

But, she would at least contemplate this exchange for a long while.

"I did, yes. I have never shared myself in any capacity with another. It is the duty of a noblewoman to remain pure until they marry, and while there are many within the Seireitei who feel content to abandon this principle for the sake of idle hedonistic pleasure, I am not among them."

It was strange to her, to have Makoto come around and sit beside her. It shifted the entirety of the dynamic, she found, and made her consider the situation more immediately.

"Are you certain, Makoto? If it would put your mind at ease, I am not opposed to it."

"That much is true, I suppose. It is important that we do tell the truth whenever we are able."

Shishiyuki had certainly not expected Makoto to become so emotional, but given the circumstance, she could not say that she blamed the young woman for her response. If she had experienced trauma, and spoken of it so little, then it was to follow that all of this would be quite painful for her. She wanted quite a great deal to help, but she did not quite know now.

"I will help you, however I may. I do not wish to cause you any grief, to push you in one way or another. There are always those times when our direction is unclear, when it is not easy to know what we must do."

There was, ultimately, only one way Shishiyuki could offer the help she wished to. It was a matter of principle, something she could not forsake. There were truths she could not share to an outsider, no matter how much she cared for Makoto's well-being, and words she could not speak to one who was not part of her family. But she was not entirely certain if offering such a thing to Makoto was prudent, if it was a correct decision or one merely seeming appropriate in the moment. For all of Shishiyuki's self-control, she was not one particularly adept at these sorts of moments, and she could do little but give Makoto a warm, if faintly awkward, embrace, the sort that made it clear Shishiyuki did not show such affection often.

"In those times, the most important thing is that we do not force ourselves to walk alone. That we remember the presence of our friends, our family. Those who have supported us, and who will support us. It is not easy to put one's trust in others, I know. I am rather poor at it as well. But you and I may work on that together, if you wish."

If it were someone else, Shishiyuki might well have simply offered to marry her. A situation which would make Makoto her family, and where she could offer a kiss without any sense of guilt. But that would be manipulative in its own way, and she suspected that, if Makoto had been made unsure merely at the thought of taking a first kiss, to outright take her marriage would only make her feel all the worse. Such a difficult situation.

"If you have had no one such as that before, then you may at least rest assured that you have one person who will support you now."

Shishiyuki felt as though she may honestly have been a bit condescending, but she wasn't entirely sure how else to approach this situation beyond offering these sorts of affirmations. She did not mind the situation, though she knew that she likely would have were it anyone else.

"You do not need to apologize, Makoto. Our emotions are something we cannot decide, simply by their nature. Even if we control them, we will still feel them, and they will still weigh on us. We must sometimes let our emotions out, or they will only harm us all the more."

What else was there to say on the matter? She could have offered sayings and platitudes on the matter of emotion, but those would not be the things which helped Makoto in the moment, she felt.

"It is not an unreasonable request, when it is something that is so important to you."

There was something about Makoto's trust in her that simultaneously reassured Shishiyuki and caused her a degree of pain. Such trust was placed in a woman who, by necessity, could not ever give to her the full truth. It reminded Shishiyuki all the more of her disdain for the entire system of the noble families.

"I will do my utmost to ensure that your trust in me is well-placed, Makoto."

It would be pointless to simply reiterate that she was not this woman from Makoto's past. After all, what good would it do to state something established through trust? Better to simply make it clear through action. Giving her a smile in return, Shishiyuki wiped Makoto's stray tears away, something of her instinct as an elder sister coming to the surface for a moment.