The Ecstasy of Death [Toki, Ryouko]

"It's not a matter of distrust, please don't take it that way. But given everything that's happened, there are a lot of injuries that are unfamiliar to the Gotei. It would be ideal to have it documented, if nothing else, don't you think?"

Toki was kind of running out of normal excuses to turn her down without simply declining her offer, and he really didn't want to simply tell her a firm 'no' if he could help it. Without any actual understanding of her state, it was hard to gauge how he should or shouldn't handle this.

"I'm not opposed to maybe talking about that sort of, ah...intimate discussion, after this is settled, but work at present is rather far from over, and I'd want to handle as many rescue and recovery efforts as I can. You included."

"Hmm. Okay! If you'd like to do that instead, I don't mind."

If he had the confidence to know what he wanted then she wasn't going to fight it. It wasn't like he said no either, he said later, and so what he said satisfied her enough.

"Come find me when you've had enough of work, okay?"

She told him and spun around until her bloodstained back was what he was looking at. While he did that she'd look for something fun in the meantime, or just go where her feet carried her.

"Ah, Amou, I'd prefer if you stayed with me for now, if that's alright. Given the danger still hasn't fully passed, I'd prefer to have you with me for now."

She seemed to prefer a direct approach, so if that was what was necessary, then he would be more direct. Toki hardly wanted to let her wander around in the current situation, with how unpredictable it still was and how many hollows remained in Soul Society at present, even if they were largely outside the Seireitei.

"And finding you might take a while anyway, wouldn't you say? I'd rather have you at my side."

Mm, he didn't quite like wording it like that, but he had little alternative. He understood that he was being manipulative, and that made him uncomfortable on a level that was hard to fully comprehend. The last thing Toki ever wished to do was take advantage of an impressionable woman.

Those were nice words and made her giggle to herself. He was trying to make her blush. However, he was not the only one that could be manipulative right now. He wanted his cake and to eat it too, did he? That didn't seem very fair did it but she wasn't hurt by that, instead Ryouko would show her own kind of stubbornness that didn't belong here.

"Nuh uh, Hi~na~mo~ri. You can't have both. It doesn't work like that. So what do you want right now? Me, or work?"

"That's hardly an easy choice to make, you know."

Sighing inwardly, Toki ran a hand through his hair in thought, piecing together a plan about this little conundrum. He didn't want to be overly forceful, but he also couldn't just let her wander off like this. That wasn't good at all. At the same time, this wasn't his authority, so perhaps the best he could do was get someone else to come find her and handle the issue.

The only alternative, he had to imagine, would probably require that he get physical, and while she was certainly a conventionally attractive woman, this kind of circumstance made it wildly outside his morals, even for the sake of convincing her of this for her own safety. If it were absolutely necessary, perhaps, but it wasn't yet.

"If I did return to work, where should I plan to come find you again when work is finished, exactly? I'd be disappointed if I simply couldn't find you afterward."

"Uhm."

This was where her shortcomings were. So absorbed in the present moment she was, it was hard to visualise and form a plan and her memory was foggy. How would she even remember this? She bit her lip when it was frustrating to think about this and finding no success.

"I don't know, you'd just have to find me I suppose."

She finally decided on the simplest and most logical answer in her head. Was it actually that? That was up to a sensible person to decide.

That was not an answer Toki wanted. After all, he wanted to send someone more qualified to check on this woman, but that didn't seem quite possible. After a moment, he accepted that there was no other way to properly approach this issue, even if he disliked it. Resolving himself to this course of action, Toki pulled his glasses from his pocket and slipped them on, before stepping toward Ryouko with a shunpo and picking her up once again, a bit more firmly this time and, unfortunately, also closer to himself.

"Well, I don't like the idea of losing track of you, so I'd much rather take you with me."

Being forceful wasn't his way of doing things, but Toki believed in getting results, and in protecting other people. If he needed to act assertive in that, it was just the sensible decision to make. Not to mention...

"I did say we would have that discussion afterward, and I'm a man of my word. Losing track of you wouldn't make it very easy to follow through on that."

"Eh?"

She was off her feet again and went slack in his arms. Hang on a minute, this was the thing she said wasn't going to happen. Was it? He kind of chose her but he kind of chose work. So Ryouko was stunned for a moment while she ruminated on these thoughts. Not long enough that she was going to be placid through this though.

"Hang on, this is cheating. If you're going to cheat then I will too."

It was rambling her ideas outside of her mouth but she did take advantage of this position to try and make him capitulate to what she wanted with hand going to his cheeks to make him face her. He could choose to let her go or let her kiss him. This was so smart. One way or another she won, right?

Toki wasn't the sort of man who would give up on a serious effort to be helpful simply on account of embarrassment on his end. Did he necessarily want to be put in this situation? No, definitely not. But if the alternative was to let a woman that might be unwell wander off into the Seireitei while it was still in disarray, he wouldn't be particularly bothered.

"If you think that's fair, I won't argue."

He simply met her gaze resolutely, clearly unwilling to back down from his own position. Of course, he wasn't going to do anything to assist her, so if she really wished to follow through, that was her prerogative.

He agreed. She thought anyway and so her attempts to sway him began with her lips on his. If he wasn't going to stop her then there was nothing to restrain her unruly haze. The thought of what first kisses meant, regrets, or humiliation were all absent in it. She wanted her way and she was going to get it, Ryouko wasn't thinking about what the path to that abstract desire was.

She would just move towards it in a drunken bliss.