The Wind that Blows to You [Kizuna, Nelliel]

The overwhelming majority of what people knew about Kizuna was simply that she was a woman of violence. That was true, and she wouldn't argue it. She liked to fight so people would become strong, but that was the real motivation behind it. Other people growing into more than they were now. Becoming something greater.

That kind of growth didn't start in a vacuum. It began with the youth, with the children who would grow to have ambitions and desires beyond just being weak-willed husks with no future. And that was why Kizuna, in her time between drunken revelry and personal research, when she needed funding or simply when the urge struck her, worked to teach those youth. The schoolday had finished, and it would be the weekend after this; two days she would fill with more dangerous sorts of work and study.

"Hey kiddo, don't forget your homework Monday! You told me you'd get a 100 if I gave you the weekend, so I'm looking forward to reading it!"

Though there was undeniably a threat in those words, Kizuna offered it in a playful sort of challenging tone to the last of her students as he left, and only after the children had all gone from the small school in Brazil did her demeanor shift to its more usual. It might have been a vacation town, but people still had families, and kids still needed to learn shit. Letting out a long, exasperated sigh, she turned on one heel and got to walking. She'd need to find something interesting for the weekend...

And, her eyes and reikaku all too quickly seemed to give her some lead. That was a face she recognized from older records; at least, she was pretty sure it was. The mask fragment was more telling, but Kizuna wasn't going to lose her cool quite yet. She walked with a little more pep in her step toward the target in question, and when she got there, she spoke up in a somewhat overly energetic tone of voice.

"Yo! Are you actually the old Third? Ah, probably shouldn't call you that, sorry, I know it can be a touchy subject. Uh, Nelliel, right?"

Of course she would be excited. This was someone new that every record had said she should be impressed by.

It really was her! Oh, that was incredible! Kizuna's expression seemed to light up all the more at that particular confirmation, holding out a hand for the woman excitedly.

"Right, my bad, name's Kizuna Ishimaru! I wasn't really around for all that business back then, so no surprise you wouldn't have heard about me. Not like teachers go making names in the headlines."

Of course, Kizuna could have made headlines for plenty of other reasons, and she certainly wasn't stupid enough to think otherwise. But her actual day to day life was pretty plain. She was fairly certain that even normal humans lived a life not terribly different from her own.

"I'd heard a lot about you from some of the other people that were actually around for all that though. It true you were hanging out with that Ichigo kid?"

"That's pretty insane, to think you were right there. He must've been one hell of a kid."

But Kizuna could certainly tell that Nelliel wasn't interested in reminiscing on all that. Even if she would have liked to pick at her brain for a while, she wasn't so sure that it was going to be practical to get many answers out of her on that front. So she shifted her topic, willing to take the loss.

"So what brings someone like you here to Brazil? This is kinda a quiet part of the world, you know?"

There were a few possibilities, and all of them were potentially interesting.

"Ahhh. I see, I see. Well, guess that does make sense, there's more of us around these parts than most places. I can't say I've ever heard of the kid being around these parts, though. Not really sure what's been sending him all over the place, but I guess whatever it is ain't really around here."

Of course, maybe that wasn't even true. Kizuna hadn't ever spoken with Ichigo, and by extension, she knew next to nothing about what he wanted. Maybe it was something that would put Brazil right into his line of fire, but she doubted that. Safira probably wouldn't have aligned herself with him so casually otherwise.

"Anything you think might be a sign he was around? I can wrack the brain, try and think if I'd have seen something."