Do you see my point? [Hannah/Wakaba]

Listening to the air whizzing by her, it was almost like Kisuke could feel where she was taking him even though he could not see it. The feeling was peculiar, knowing that they were moving at pace, but he could also sense the confidence that went into every movement and the diligence that Hannah needed to maintain such speed.

"Yeah, I suppose it was."

Kisuke offered a rather cryptic comment on that jab from Hannah, the topic was a sore one compared to most that she could pick at so she might be able to pick up on the frustration that remained pent up behind his words. It was rare to draw even that much out of him, so perhaps that made it all the more telling.

"But I think my work has some endearing qualities to it. Sometimes there is beauty in simplicity, I can appreciate that at least."

Wow, this was actually serious. Turning back to where Kisuke was, Hannah would manipulate the wind in front of her with her Anima Mea and move it out of the way, preventing it from slowing slowing her down as she rocketed back to Kisuke, and walked through the door a few moments after heading that way.

"So, Kido works" Hannah would reply, looking at Kisuke as well as one could. "Now for doctor time. Are we going to have to blow up the barracks trying to pull out your hidden feelings, or can we skip that part and get right down to you telling me how you really feel about all this?"

Hannah had a rather sudden mood change when Kisuke revealed his moment of vulnerability. The deeply ingrained medical nature was always just above the surface, looking to pop out at the slightest provocation. Whatever she tried to layer on top of it, she was ultimately a somewhat obsessive healer.

Kisuke noticed the immediate shift in Hannah’s focus. He was sharing all senses with her after all, and that did give him quite an indication of what she was thinking. Was he glad that she cared enough? That she had cut through his casual jokes to get to the core of the issue? People did just assume that he was alright and he never corrected them. So he settled into his chair and waited for her to return, it hardly took long enough for him to sit down anyway.

“I am obligated to advise you not to try to blow up the barracks, but that does sound like the more amusing option.”

He still shuffled around the actual crux of her point, unwilling to open up under the slightest provocation. That would do his air of mystery no good, after all. This whole doctor persona was a refreshing change, though. Playing pretend was something that he was far too good at.

“If we’re sharing then this’ll have to be a two way street. I’d also usually avoid doing this at work, but then that would mean finding another quiet little corner to hole up in.”

"My thanks" Hannah would state, with some sincerity, as he did not force her to blow up the barracks flinging Kido against Kido to get it out of him. She would navigate to the nearest chair and take a seat in it, waiting for him to begin. He would stall a moment, trying to maintain his reputation or mystique, so Hannah would help with the first of the two.

"Hachigyo Sogai" she would incant, casting a barrier over the room that split off all method of acknowledgement it even existed. "Now, by all means. I do not mind sharing anything you wish to know, since this seems something you need to talk about to a person not yourself"

Seeing Hannah casually cast a powerful barrier spell, Kisuke chuckled softly to himself. He should have expected that she would just pull the trigger but perhaps he was in the mood for being frivolous.

"I meant more that it was not the kind of thing to discuss at work, but very well. It would be quite remiss of me to let your hard work go to waste."

Leaning forwards again, setting his elbows atop his desk and letting his head rest in his hands, he peered at the woman before him with an intensity that she might never be able to deduce given her lack of vision. It was a stare that bore straight through her and into the wall behind them. Being serious was never fun, but a little bit of trust went a long way sometimes. The tone shifted abruptly, Kisuke's mood spinning on a dime as much as he did, and he soon found the energy to continue the conversation.

"Admittedly, I know your public life rather well. I tend to do my research on such things before I take on new employees. But I suppose we are diving into our private lives, so what's your experience been with romance? I daresay I hope it has been better than my own."

"Heh. Hard work?" Hannah would ask, shaking her head. She felt more comfortable around Urahara, and so allowed herself to be more relaxed.

"As for my love life being better than yours...what is that phrase? Better to have loved and lost, than never loved at all? I spent like a hundred years obsessively studying Kido to the exclusion of The World outside of what Captain Unohana dragged me into. After that, it was about fifty years of trauma-driven introvertism, and then fifty years of being in jail. I haven't had a bad love life, I straight up haven't had a love life at all"

"I doubt most of my esteemed colleagues could manage such a feat with little more than a thought, so take the compliment." Kisuke mused, all too happy to take a momentary distraction before diving again into the heavier topic of conversation. Hannah's answer to that question was certainly rather bleak but he had hardly expected her to come out smelling of roses. One did not deflect to somewhere that it could easily be returned, after all.

"'Better to have loved and lost'... Easily spoken by those that have not lost. I spent too long chasing after that which never should have been, and now I am left putting back together those pieces. It's a fickle thing if it wants to be, so I do wonder if I would switch places with someone that had not experienced any of it. You can write the future, but the past is already set in stone."

"The Past and the Future lay upon the same road. What was, is, but what will be, has yet to be. Don't allow a thing in the past to put you off trying for the future. What is experience, but the pain of failure garnished with the knowledge of how to avoid such pain a second time?"

"I have little experience with romantic loss, so I can't say with confidence. But, as painful as loss can be, just imagine loving someone so much you will stand against the whole world rising up against you and fight them off, just for your partner. To treasure them so much you don't need the world, if you have them. That has to be something"

"You would view it as failure then? It is an interesting standpoint to take, and not one that I inherently disagree with regarding other relationships, but it is not something I can view as accurate in my own case. That feels too clinical for my liking, so cut and dry. It's likely hubris, but we are meant to be our own worst critics are we not?"

Taking off his hat, he set it down on the desk between them and let a hand run through his pale blonde hair. Messy as it was, those hands glided through the mop with practised ease as he swept his fringe up and off his face for a few moments before letting it all tumble back down.

"You do make it sound like quite a beautiful thing, I must admit, but the truth is that if it is the two of you standing against the world then those unseen edges will fray long before the world bends to your will."

"I don't see a hot cat girl sprawled across your desk. So clearly the chasing after has been a failure. Otherwise you'd not speak so morosely about the time you spent doing it. Failure is clinical, what you learn from failure, is far broader and more varied"

"But who ever said about bending the world? If they abandon you for who you love, why should you continue to care what they think? If you are already close enough to stand against everyone you've ever known for them, then you aren't breaking up any time soon. And if they push you into fights until you die, at least your final moments are spent how you want them, with someone you have given your whole heart too. Few people get such a privilege as to chose how they die"