A Sheathed Blade Still Cuts [Midori, Alastor]

It was perhaps for the best that Midori had been offered extended time in Soul Society proper in the wake of Yushiro Shihoin's death, seeing as there had proven to be such significant discord here and in the world of the living that there was near always something which merited at least the distant, watchful eye of the Zero Division, in case it proved to be a concern which earned their earnest attention.

As it turned out, even the appearance of Death itself on Earth had not been something which concerned them. That was just as well, really. Midori was not the sort of woman who especially relished the idea of being sent into action. Many of her comrades may have longed for some threat which called for their skills, but she was perfectly willing to live a quiet life.

Well, now things were a bit too quiet even for her. It had been all well and good to maintain distance from her own daughter for reasons of professionalism, but at this point, she could hardly deny that she had all the time in the world to actually engage in Murasaki's life. Did that mean she could just as easily have returned to the Soul King's palace?

Yes, but she would not rush to do so. There were still things she could certainly say deserved her attention here.

Regardless of all that, there was someone else she felt compelled to approach. Not her sister, despite what many might assume. She would rather never speak to that bitch again for as long as she lived, actually. No, it was the young man that had chosen to begin dating her daughter. It was only natural for a mother to be interested in what sort of boy her little girl was with, and while she typically would have simply walked into the 7th Division and spoken with him directly, she had heard rumor that this had been precisely how her sister had gone about it already. No, that wouldn't do at all. So, instead, she sent the young man a letter, and requested he meet her at the Jin-Roh Teahouse in the Seireitei.

Naturally, she arrived early, and took up a seat by the window, tea already at the table and a kiseru in hand as she waited for Alastor to arrive.

His first reaction to a letter addressed to him from this woman inviting him out for dinner was to wonder who the hell was writing letters nowadays and who was this woman he didn't know that wanted to take him on a date. Didn't the girls nowadays get that he was in a relationship? Now if he was single he might've been more intrigued. Thankfully, the whole situation was cleared up by Murasaki.

Maybe he didn't really pay attention to the fact that Koizumi was a family that Murasaki's mother belonged to, but he knew the broad strokes. She was in a noble clan but there were a bunch of those so give a guy a break. Now that added extra stress because this wasn't just some random woman, this was his woman's mother.

He'd tackled the aunt well enough he thought but the mum felt a lot more intense. After all, he'd have kicked Shishiyuki's ass without a second thought if she tried to intervene with Murasaki's life or get between them considering the story of what happened but the mum was another cup of tea. He actually kind of needed her approval, right?

Especially when your girlfriend's (who was a captain herself) mother was even higher up the food chain and a member of those real obscure zero division guys. She could probably kick his ass without trouble if she didn't like the look of him.

Too much worry. He didn't like stress, he was a simple kind of guy. Honestly, fuck this woman a little for making him have to overthink like that but he wasn't going to be a pussy and not show up.

He just showed up on time.

"Hey."

The first thought had was that she was pretty hot. He could see where Murasaki got it. The second thought had was this is Murasaki's mum. Might as well get it over with he thought while sitting down and trying to glean the kind of person she was.

So this was the young man in question. Well, Midori supposed that he was what one would call conventionally attractive, so she could not say that she was surprised Murasaki had been immediately pulled toward him. His casual greeting, if nothing else, reminded her of her own husband, though that was not necessarily something she considered a positive trait.

"Good afternoon. Thanks for coming, I'd heard that my sister already came to talk to you not too long ago. Sorry if she gave you any trouble, she's got problems."

The words which left her mouth, and the way that she spoke them, certainly created no small degree of disconnect from her appearance. Midori had maintained the look of a noble lady by merit of simply being familiar with the appearance, her tastes influenced entirely by what was familiar to her. But having lived well outside the noble families for many years now, and having grown thoroughly bitter toward them, there was a rather obvious sense to anyone who heard her that this was a woman who actively chose to speak more casually than came naturally to her.

"I don't think there's any reason to make some kind of attempt to ease into the reason I'm here. I think you know exactly why I'd invite you here, and trying to keep up idle small talk would only be disingenuous. So let's cut right to it then. Is Murasaki doing well? Taking care of herself, taking care of you?"

She was certainly prying, but none could deny that it was in a profoundly different way than Shishiyuki had. There was not the slightest bit of pretense as to her motives, and the questions she asked were far more earnest, far more direct in their relation to Murasaki's own well-being. Of course, that was because Midori had run through what questions she ought to ask many times in her head while waiting for her lunch companion, but even so. She thought she had chosen appropriately.

Ah fuck. He kept his thoughts to himself but the impression of Midori keeping tabs on him to know about that Shishiyuki episode in addition to then making the snide remark really set the tone for the family dramas. At least Midori and Murasaki didn't seem that close to them, as long as there were no family dinners he could probably cope.

"Jeez. You really cut to the chase huh?"

She just smashed the door in his face right there. No time to even warm up or dance around a bit. Just bang, there it is.

"Uh, one. She's doing well. Two. Yes. Three. I can take care of myself, lady."

He guessed she meant something else by the way she emphasised mentioning the taking care of him but he'd give her the same as Shishiyuki. He isn't just going to openly discuss Murasaki's life and especially not what he thought was the implication of what Midori was asking about a specific part of his relationship with her. Get your own sex life.

"So who exactly are you?"

His hothead might've said throw the caution to the wind and return the offensive. Might as well figure out who Murasaki's mum really was while he was right?

"I always have."

It did not especially surprise Midori that her daughter had picked someone so confident in himself. The alternative, she supposed, was that he was simply so stupid as to not actually know who she was, but she doubted that simply by merit of his being able to read her invitation at all. Rather than being put off at his tone, she simply smiled a touch wider, taking a moment to take a pull from her kiseru before continuing.

"I'm Koizumi Midori of the Zero Division. Well, that name doesn't belong to me anymore, but they get more than a little irritated with me for using it after they sent me away. So I keep it on the paperwork."

Laughing almost spitefully at that, Midori simply continued on, doing her best to avoid that line of thought.

"But that's not especially important here. Really, it doesn't matter at all. What matters is that I'm Murasaki's mother. I think it's perfectly fair that I would ask if you're happy with your relationship. She speaks very highly of you in her letters. But I think it's worth getting both sides of the story, don't you?"

Leaning back casually, she allowed her eyes to meet his, an almost welcoming sort of look that made it clear she was not here to antagonize him. If he didn't want to answer anything, that was his prerogative.

"Look, I'm not here to put you over any coals, to raise my sword to your neck and tell you that you'd better take care of my little girl. She's an adult, and a smart one. She can take care of herself. I'm here because we'd inevitably meet anyway, and I had the time to reach out to you. I'm asking you plenty of questions, so go ahead, ask plenty yourself. I've got nothing to hide."

Man that was petty he wondered to himself when she felt the need to explain that she used her family name out of spite towards them. Alastor'd have just kept using it because it'd be a pain in the ass to try and get another one but whatever floated her boat really. He still hadn't bothered to order, frankly he had no idea what he'd even try and get here.

"Yeah, well I'm obviously happy with my relationship otherwise I wouldn't bother being in it. It's not like either of us are super demanding or anything so no issue."

People that just kept on clinging onto something that clearly wasn't working out were stupid. Another simple as that thought of Alastor's in his very basic view of everything. He wasn't particularly malicious towards Midori, he just didn't like stuff like this. You know, guys always lost their cool when dealing with hot mums of their girlfriend or something like that.

The first question that came to mind was discarded as the question he was definitely not going to ask. The whole 'how did you do it' question but he figured that Midori had gotten enough of that and would probably be annoyed by the question.

"So how'd you get so tough?"

It was a strange question, one that he comfortably felt was detached from anything that might cause strife for her but also remaining purely focused on learning of her. Who knows, maybe there was a cool badass story behind it. All the Zero Division people were surely real badasses in everyway or another.

"Good, I'm glad to hear that."

In truth, Midori had thought about thanking him for helping Murasaki through her troubles not long ago, but it would have felt rather pointless. She had hardly even known about it until the matter was already resolved, and she did not particularly wish to revisit the topic.

"I practiced. I know that probably isn't the most exciting answer, but unfortunately, it's the only one I can give you. I dedicated myself to swordsmanship, did my work diligently. I didn't do anything special, at least not until Murasaki."

Alastor may have assumed that Midori wished to avoid the topic of her daughter's conception, but honestly, she was so used to it that she could hardly even be bothered. Besides, she would do it all again if it meant having Murasaki.

"Honestly, I don't think I've done anything special. I think anyone could match me with some time, and maybe a bit of guidance."

Modesty really was annoying. She really hit him with the stick to it and you'll get there, kiddo. Didn't make any sense to him, if hard work was just it then why wasn't everyone hanging back as total monsters. How old was she anyway? That might have something to do with it. Couldn't be much older than Shishiyuki if they were sisters, hypothetically speaking but she didn't seem that impressive.

Couldn't be hot shit if you ended up just teaching plebs like him and Elyss at the academy Hakuda, right? Haha. Good one.

"Right.. Suppose that makes sense. What do you even do up there anyway? Just keep practicing or something? Never even seen you guys do anything and there was a whole ass war that happened down here you know."

That one might've been a lot more unimpressed with her. What was the point of having these big guys with super superpowers if they didn't even show up when they could be helpful. Someone ought to be fired for their stupidity.

"Not much. It's an underwhelming position, really."

Speaking so candidly about a position as prestigious as the Zero Division was certainly not normal, but really, who was going to hold her to account for it? She had only one direct superior, and she doubted he'd be coming to discipline her any time soon.

"We protect the Soul King. If he isn't in danger, then we're not meant to step in. If you want my honest opinion, a lot of people up there don't need to be. It's just a way of keeping us out of the way. So we live pretty normal lives. Everyone up there has something they're obsessed with."

In a sense, she wasn't any different, but the fact that her assignment had been a political maneuver quite clearly made her a touch bitter. If she had her way, she would still be in the Onmitsukido.

"You know something? I lied to you, just a little bit ago. You don't turn out like this by just practicing. Anyone can do that. No, you get here by being obsessed. I didn't just train after lunch and call it a day. Swordsmanship wasn't a hobby. I wanted to be the best. I needed to be the best. That may not sound especially flattering, but you should think about this, Alastor."

Blowing a bit of smoke out the window, Midori locked eyes with the young man across from her, and for the first time the intensity of her gaze seemed to even slightly match the weight of her position, of her capabilities.

"What do you think drives a girl as upbeat as Murasaki to come up with something like Musonzai? I wasn't so different from her when I was that age."

You know. That made a bit of sense now that he thought about it, it was always the unhealthly obsessed ones that were a bit messed up in the head that got the furthest. Eccentric people seemed to run the furthest, just thinking about the captains made it all fall into place. It was amazing really that Murasaki was still as good a person as she was considering but he had still been with her at her worst. Bad times those were. Glad that those days were over and she was her chirpy self he knew her as.

He did want to say that a girl as upbeat as Murasaki shouldn't have been put in the position to develop Musonzai in the first place but he kept that to himself. Given that she had lived in it for a while as a coping strategy but he didn't want to get into a fight with her mum over the uncontrollable circumstances that surrounded her - plus if there wasn't those circumstances then she wouldn't even be here in the first place.

"Fair enough. A guy doesn't just become obsessed with something overnight though and it's usually bad shit that makes you become obssessed with something. Isn't it?"