It felt like time was flying and crawling at the same time. It was amazing that break had come. It wasn't going to be a long one, but after the long, strenuous round of testing they'd just undergone, they were deserving of a break. It felt just a little odd being back at the Kuchiki estate though. Mostly because she'd gotten used to Akane being around and of course Haru and Yasuo knocking on their door at odd hours. Being back at the Estate was just quiet, almost too quiet. However, she was glad to be back and she was very glad to see her friends, even if it was only for a short time.
She made her rounds and went to see Hanataro, Unohana and Hinamori first… Then, she took lunch to Byakuya and Renji and afterward, she took time to spar with Rikichi who was impressed at how much she'd improved. She even stopped to say hi to Yachiru and Yumi. She wasn't so afraid of the 11th anymore, she still didn't like Ikkaku and of course he tried the usual shtick but this time, she didn't spook. Instead, she side stepped, caught his wrist, landed him on his face on the ground and bound him for good measure.
"When will you get it through your thick skull, I am not and will not be interested in you. If you do not leave me alone, I will show you every bit of kido I've been learning." She hissed at him. Of course being tripped up, bound and 'beaten' by a little wisp of a woman who used kido had the present members of his squad laughing at him.
She had saved visiting Hitsugaya for last. She was kind of excited to get to converse with him again. Matsumoto greeted her and of course asked how things at the Academy were going and if there were any cute boys - which of course had Eri rolling her eyes. She just waved Matsumoto off after that and made her way to the couch in front of Hitsugaya's desk. She didn't know why she wanted to befriend him so much but she was set on it. Amazingly enough Matsumoto took it upon herself to make some rounds delivering some things for her Captain, which of course had the young man eyeing his Lieutenant warily.
Erisia just felt that with all the pressure Toshiro put on himself and as focused as he was, as isolated as he seemed that he had to need someone to talk to. No one else seemed to see this or if they did no one seemed to be willing to step up and do just that, so she figured it was up to her. Not that she minded. He was intelligent and she liked conversing with him - even if the icy reiatsu and occasionally overwhelming sense of Hyourinmaru were sometimes a little hard to be around.
"How have your classes been going, Erisia-san?" He asked while continuing to fill out the paperwork in front of him.
"They are going well. I have even managed to pass my zanjutsu class." She chuckles. Everyone knew that was the class she was worried most about.
"That is good then. You should have more faith in your abilities. Has Kumori been speaking with you much?"
"He offers advice when he feels the need… Though he has tried to stay quiet so I can focus on my studies."
"You are lucky to have so wise a companion. Some will not have it so lucky. Some will have to learn to work with their zanpakuto in much more difficult ways. Some will have to work very hard just to hear them much less to work with them."
"I know I am. How have things been going here?" She inquires.
"We are still at war and we are still fighting hard for every bit of information we have and every inch of ground we gain. It still feels like we are at a stalemate." He says with a sigh.
"I cannot imagine how hard this has been for everyone. Just from what I have myself heard, I can only imagine that it will take a very long time to defeat a man that was plotting and planning for over a century. It is however my hope that the Gotei will find some ray of hope, some light in the darkness that will provide them the leverage they need to finally win."
"If only more people thought as you did, Erisia-san…. Especially now. After so long many are beginning to lose hope. With each hope lost that's one step closer to Aizen winning." He says, shaking his head. "Yet it is not hard to understand why they lose hope. Most of the ground we gain is lost once again. We have so far only been able to keep a kind of stalemate going. Yet already to date we have lost more captains, lieutenants and seated officers in general than any battle has claimed before. It is hard to have hope against such staggering odds."
"Yet it is a time when hope is needed most. Even in the deepest darkness there can be a light. You may have to strain to see it but if you keep yourself open to it, if you keep looking for it - eventually you will find it." Erisia coaxes.
"How is it you can think this way?"
"Because I have to. My father was a very abusive drunk… I have scars to prove it. Yet as dark as that situation was, there was a light. It brought my mother and I closer together and when we were finally free of him, we were stronger for what we went through. I was killed by a Hollow, and yet I am not truly finally dead. I still have a chance to help people, to protect them so that no one else has to go through what I went through. If this is not proof that there is light in the darkness - what proof would you require?" Erisia asks, looking into those icy orbs.
He had to stop and think about that for a long moment. She had a point… With as badly as many of the situations had gone, they were now only without captains in the three squads whose captains had turned against Soul Society. It could be a lot worse. They had lost people but there was a steady enough flow of new recruits from the academy and so they weren't dwindled to impossibly low numbers.
The odds were not in their favor yet, but neither were they stacked completely against them. There was Kurosaki - as rude and brash as the young man was there was no denying the power the substitute Shinigami held. They had allies… But would it be enough? "There is light in the darkness then… but will it be enough to turn back the tide?"
Erisia pondered his words… "As it is at the moment… No, it will not. It is still weak… it needs to be strengthened… it needs to grow brighter."
"And how do you propose we strengthen so fragile a thing, Erisia-san?"
"By helping each other. By not turning away allies because they are different… For the light to grow stronger, we must each add our own light to it. We must put aside our differences and the darkness inside ourselves and foster the light - only then will it be able to grow brighter. Divide and conquer is that not what they say, Captain Hitsugaya? If we do not allow the enemy to divide us, how will he then conquer us?" She asks.
She had a point. As idealistic as it all sounded… she had a point. Aizen's forces had already proven they could pick off small groupings… But if they came at the man en-mass how well would his forces be able to compensate then? "We will still have to proceed with caution. He is a very intelligent and very dangerous man. I have little doubt with the evidence we already have that he will have tried to plan a strategy to combat anything we might normally try."
"Then try something he would not be expecting. He was part of the Gotei for a long time - yes? So far the situation has been handled as the Gotei has always handled altercations - correct? Well if he is planning for what he expects you to do…then do something he will not expect."
Hitsugaya was left blinking at the young woman before him. "How is it you can think up such things when no one here has thought them in a hundred years?"
"Because I have not been here for a hundred years or longer. I guess it is because I have been outside of the situation… I am not indoctrinated in the ways of Seireitei. I am still in many ways just a simple young woman from Karakura town, Captain Hitsugaya. It is easier for me because all of this Shinigami business is very new to me. I have not grown up here, I have not been long steeped in the history and the war… You know only the ways of this world… and I do not yet know them entirely."
It made sense… But there was still the matter of pulling it off. They didn't even really know what Aizen wouldn't be expecting. But it was a start. "I do not think you are simple, Erisia-san… You are a very intelligent young woman who has a great deal of potential. And I do believe you will fulfill it when given the opportunity." he says with something akin to a smile quirking the corners of his lips.
"I hope I will be able to. I would like to make all who have helped me proud to have done so."
"I have no doubt that you will." Hitsugaya said simply as he returned to his paperwork. Though he would not say it aloud for it was not his way, he was already proud of the young woman before him. Her words, her fresh insight had done a great deal more to help her on her path to befriending the stoic young Captain. He had a newfound respect for her that was certain. He did not yet know what to do with the information, with the insight she had provided just now… But he was heralded as a prodigy and it would sort itself out soon enough. What he could say however was that for the first time in a long time, he had a renewed sense of hope…