Zatoichi-ryu [Erika, Murasaki]

Work in the first division was generally something that kept Erika fairly busy, particularly given she wasn't the type to sit idly by when she'd finished whatever was immediately pressing. There was always something that needed doing, something to be improved, but it crossed her mind as she finished the last of the day's paperwork that she ought to follow up on something fairly important. She stood from her desk, and then walked briskly toward the Captain Commander's office, knocking twice before entering. Her demeanor was professional as ever, which was to say it was stern, sharp, and still looking generally dour.

"Captain, I wanted to see if you've been keeping up with your kido training."

She wasn't accusing the woman of having not done it, but at the same time, Erika had high expectations for the woman that had taken over as Captain Commander, and even moreso given her claims that she would surpass anyone who had held the title before her. While she might have had the potential, that certainly wasn't going to be the case with the pitiful displays of kido she'd had prior.

There was, ultimately, a correct and an incorrect answer to this question.

At least Murasaki had given the correct answer, though Erika hadn't come here expecting the worst from her. Despite her high expectations for the woman as a captain, she did consider Murasaki a friend, and Erika wouldn't have been friends with someone that slacked off on anything even slightly important. The casual way she handled their conversation wasn't something she'd ever outright condone, but it didn't get in the way of her performing her duties, so Erika didn't bother saying anything about it.

"Good. If you plan to be better than the Commanders before you, where you are now isn't even worth talking about."

It was a harsh criticism, certainly, but Erika knew Murasaki could handle it. Besides, pulling her punches wasn't remotely in her nature, as both a person and in her capacity as vice captain. Murasaki was cheery, free-spirited, and had asked Erika to work with her specifically to operate counter to that. It would be a dereliction of her own duty not to be so harsh.

"Trouble? No."

But that wasn't entirely true, either. She'd been studying the asauchi in her office for some time now, something she wouldn't have concerned herself with before. Then again, that was true of everything she did these days. Anything in service of the Gotei was a far cry from what she would have done even a few years ago, and yet here she was, having even tried to bring back a former captain, attempting to understand zanjutsu correctly.

"...Zanpakuto matters, I guess you'd say."

Even here, in the most secure office in Soul Society and speaking to someone that knew her infinitely better than most, one could practically hear Erika gritting her teeth at admitting that vocally. But there wasn't anyone better with this than Murasaki, and it was pointless not to bring it up. Results were what mattered here.

There was something almost irritating about how cheerful Murasaki managed to be through a conversation like this. Erika was hardly delusional enough to think that was a justified way to look at it, of course, but she was still jaded enough to not exactly be inclined toward that level of optimism herself. Her tone of voice notably more tense than usual, she spoke sharply, as if every word was irritating just to say.

Well, there was no "as if" about it. This wasn't exactly a pleasant conversation.

"I've avoided zanjutsu for a long time. But what I thought was my zanpakuto isn't it. I had time to figure it out when I was on my own, but it's not appropriate for a vice captain not to have a proper zanpakuto."

Of course, this was more than just professional, and Erika was quite sure Murasaki knew that already. She'd put up with Sokobie for far longer than she'd have ever considered "ideal," and the idea of maybe being free of it, of having a proper zanpakuto spirit, had been dangled a little too close in front of her before being yanked away again. In a way, she thought maybe even asking this was pointless. Maybe she'd have been better off carrying on like she was.

But she'd chosen to come here. She'd taken that first step forward the moment she lost to Murasaki and came back to the Gotei. The idea of opening up wasn't something she cared for, and in a way, she knew she was setting herself up for more betrayal, more disappointment. But the alternative was just accepting failure, throwing away any pride she might have in herself.

She'd seen what that could do to someone like her, and she had no intention of becoming someone like that.

"I don't know what I'm missing."

Nothing was more bitter to admit than simple ignorance, but that was the reality of it. Erika couldn't even begin to properly fix this problem if she didn't know where to begin, and every day that she spent not fixing it was an issue she couldn't abide.

"Yeah."

If nothing else, it was good that Murasaki seemed to be keeping up with the situation. Erika didn't exactly relish the thought of having to explain everything about the situation, even if she knew that would probably be objectively better.

"Katanakaji. It was supposed to surpass the zanpakuto, make it obsolete by manifesting a sword without needing an asauchi as the vessel. I wouldn't say it worked. I'm the only one who came close, and Sokobie is hardly the same as a real zanpakuto."

Her bitterness toward the sword crept faintly into her voice as she said that, and Erika's fingers idly tapped against the hilt of the sword as she talked about it. She didn't care for it one iota, but right now, it was the closest she had.

"I can't bond with an asauchi because of it. The swords I make are empty husks. Tools, but nothing beyond that. What I don't know is why, or how to overcome it."

Erika was hardly so sentimental that she considered proper zanpakuto to typically be anything more than a tool either, to be fair. But she doubted Murasaki would want to hear something like that, and in a way, the woman being her friend made that thought seem at least a faint bit wrong, as if she ought to feel guilty about it. But that wasn't here or there, and the thought left her mind just as quickly as it had come.

Either of these options certainly made Erika even less fond of Sokobie than she already was, just by merit of the fact that both of them put that bitch at the forefront of her problem. It hardly surprised her that it might be the case, of course, because there had to be some reason that Katanakaji had kept her from being able to utilize a zanpakuto properly.

"So then it's just a question of getting rid of Sokobie."

A cold, unflinching answer to either option Murasaki had laid out, to be certain, but that was the kind of woman Erika was. She wasn't willing to waste time stepping around this, thinking about whether or not that was the safe or the right course of action--

But, of course, that wasn't the only reason. She just hated Sokobie. A sword that made her life more difficult, and even if she didn't care to admit it, was a constant active reminder of a far worse time in her life. Taking it out of the picture entirely seemed like the best course of action to her, if she actually had the means. But she had a feeling Murasaki wouldn't like that.