The entire walk back to the conference room of theirs was filled with deep, unrelenting thoughts that plagued the very back of his mind. Part of him was convincing enough to say that he had given in too easily, that he broke too quickly at the sudden offer of... peace or whatever it had been. To allow such strangers into his realm of shared solitude and intimacy... what the hell was he thinking? But... what right did he have to starve her of information from her home realm just the same? So what if these Shinigami leaders might've considered their first impressions of him to be manipulative and controlling? With her, overlooking their beginning rough patches and false starts, he had been willing to split the dictatorship into a democracy- especially after the first sense of conception.

Perhaps these passing years of little to no conflict had started to take the fight out of all of them...

One hand moved to rearrange his hanging locks for a moment as he slowly approached the door that would lead into the muffled voices of strangers. Fingertips moved to touch briefly against the doorknob and faltered for a short second before they eventually lead into a push to get the door open, moving it away from its less than eager frame. The room on the other side matched almost identically to the one those years before... at the picking up point after the war, it was obvious how eager creatures of habit they were; wishing to recreate anything they knew from memory. Now... it wasn't even the same. Had they been in charge of reconstruction at this given moment, he imagined a lot of this ugly palace would've been different.

The conversations came to a slight pause at his sudden entrance but they easily gave away to an onslaught of different questions- all of which he had been preparing himself for. He couldn't really blame them for their curiosity, he shared the same sentiments when they first found out... still, he wished a small amount of peace could be called from it.

"How exactly did you manage an offspring?" it was that shorter Captain again, something about him didn't settle well but he figured the man was sharing the same kind of feelings; he appeared the least enthusiastic about this whole ordeal, but he was the most realistic, which was just as important. In the end, he supposed there was an explanation for his behavior, that didn't mean he'd have to play well with it though.

And again, the Captain with the odd-looking Kasa hat against the back of his neck stepped in to answer, although he shared a few words too many. "Just like everyone does, through a delicate and tender process that is very natural to-"

"Not in that sense, Captain Shunsui." the shorter man was quick to interrupt.

Regardless of the rather icy tone, the taller man gave a brief laugh at the encounter and issued a short apology.

This was going to be a long day... that was easy to see.

Taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, he made sure he was well spaced between the two groups as though to make sure there was room in case he wished to get up and simply leave without another word. It was tempting and he was certain the feeling would only progress until the matching action was taken upon it.

Truth be told, he wasn't really all that interested in answering any of the would be given questions... Hell he wasn't really interested in being here overall. He just felt as though he was 'needed' here for support, which he supposed he had no problem in giving; it was just the giving out answers part that were a different story. He couldn't help but to wonder what the Shinigami Lieutenant was thinking of right now. If the two had recognized each other, then the situation might've been nothing short of awkward; if they didn't recognize each other, well then he supposed it just turned into an interrogation of the sorts. Actually, there was a good chance that that happened regardless if they knew each other or not.

He wondered how she would answer the questions though.

He supposed it was in the same manner as to how he would answer these ones.

The sudden overdraw of silence that flooded the room around them, however, convinced him that he had already missed the first one- disregarding the question that popped up when he first walked into the room. Just excellent.

"Well now, we weren't able to monitor the entire process but… from what we had gathered and heard, there was nothing wrong for the full term." Starrk answered, stepping in after the silence had reached a slightly critical length of time. One hand moved to squeeze the empty space between his eyes as he finished his remark. "However, I can't tell you all the details since I was largely absent from this event."

"You were though, right?" Shunsui started, shifting his attention towards him now; one hand toyed with the brief stubble that covered his broad chin. "I mean... you are the father after all."

Yeah, the question probably held some sense of importance to this matter... and he just missed out on it.

No sense in letting them in on that slip of the unbalanced attention span though.

"Well you are correct about the paternity of the matter... but what kind of specifics are you looking for with this?" he questioned instead.

It was the female Captain's turn to step in for a brief talking session. "We were just curious to if there was anything abnormal that might've happened during the pregnancy. I was just merely wondering out loud if there had been any side effects or possible health concerns during the trial; you mentioned before that she was still trying to overcome the last hurdle of an illness... was there any serious implications that arose from the pregnancy that could have caused this? There's no such record of something like this happening before... so this is really quite a one of a kind case, which can be both good and bad in a sense."

Oh yes, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised a question like that came up... he had finished giving that Lieutenant a rundown version of this same kind of explanation. And as much as he hated having to repeat himself... this called for a brief touch of necessity that he couldn't over look.

Pushing up on his glasses, he cleared his throat before he moved to answer. "We were curious in it ourselves and kept a strict watch during the entire trial. From the studies we carried out, we came to the conclusion that nothing out of the ordinary occurred and the child herself is perfectly normal, with some enhanced learning capabilities which were figured in to the original expectations. Perhaps though I should go ahead and clear some other matter up before you ask, just to save us all some time. Her hollow power has proven to be more dominant than any other possible trace of energy... No, we don't really know if she'll have full hollow powers or not, or if she'll even be able to gain a release form, it's far too soon to tell. And yes, she has still enjoyed a remotely normal childhood. No, she doesn't actually quite grasp the difference between Hollows and Shinigamis, the only difference she understands is that we wear opposite colors."

"Well… yeah I guess somewhere along the way I would have asked those questions." Shunsui nodded. "I guess it's a good thing we got them out of the way now, it'll make this discussion more efficient... hopefully."

"Out of curiosity, how exactly do you know that she'll be a dominant Hollow if you say it's too early to tell a lot from her energy alone?" Ukitake questioned.

"Because she was born without a heart."

That seemed to be the final nailing point in that topic, although he supposed he could've found a better way of arranging that into the discussion rather than just throwing it out there like he did. It was blatant, but it got the message across at least.

"Now... how exactly do we plan to put this into a correct context to work with our treaty?" Hitsugaya queried as he leaned forward against the table; his slightly stiff posture told the story of how he was going to bring up a topic that many of them probably weren't looking forward to. "Are we going to say that this treaty is possible because there is an open relationship between a Hollow and Shinigami existing currently?"

"Always with the questions and the complications" Shunsui chuckled, moving one hand down the front of his face slightly.

"Just imagine if you had brought Captain Soifon along for the ride." the Ice Captain briefly reminded.

"I'd rather not."

Harribel listened carefully as the Captains seemed to pull themselves in an open conversation over how to phrase it to follow along with their treaty and some brief remarks about how other, non-present Captains would have finished the job. Her blush-blue eyes glanced over to the Primera seated next to her, he held that appearance as though he was about ready to doze off at her side but was forcing himself to keep awake; it was a battle he seemed willing to lose though. Those same eyes eventually made their way over to the pink-haired Scientist seated just a few chairs away from them. It was easy to tell with how he carried that certain look in his eyes that he wasn't necessarily fond of the ongoing conversation and preferred to push it from his focus for now. It had been easy to spot when he first walked into the room and seated himself down that he wasn't focusing all of his attention on this discussion. She supposed she couldn't blame him... he had held that same look ever since the beginning of this mess.

"Szayel."

His name moved easily from her lips and yet she noticed that it still took him a few moments to seemingly register what had been said and who had said it. Slowly, those burnt-Amber eyes of his shifted into her direction as his expression broke into a small questioning outlook.

"Did you say something?"

He was usually a man of easy focus and knew where a conversation was turning before the tide of it even showed up. But now, he seemed to be fumbling for a brief sense of given attention and only answered things after someone else brought the question to his side of the table. It would've been curious to anyone who wasn't formally aware of the ongoing situation, and yet she felt it would only be courtesy to ask him regardless.

"What's on your mind?"

For a moment, she thought she caught a brief and sharp sigh escaping from his lips followed shortly by a quick shake of his head. "Too much and not enough."

Before she could get in another question that would hopefully call for a better answer... someone else moved in to take the space.

"Alright, so I think we have a majority of this treaty planned out." Shunsui started as he pushed himself to his feet for a moment, as though to bring emphasize to what he was about to say. "It requires a lot of planning but I think we should be able to pull it off flawlessly... that is when we bring every member into it."

The odd-looking man's words seemed funny to him and he made no move to hide the slight distaste at them. "And by every member…you mean?"

"Okay, so just to ask, there's nothing else I need to know about, right?" Isane questioned, fingers briefly toying with a silver braid that fell against the curve of her shoulder. "I mean, she's not going to have a little brother or sister anytime soon, is she?"

The question almost seemed humorous enough when it was posed and she thought she caught a hint of seriousness in the woman's tone. To her, the topic of such wasn't necessarily a new one... but it didn't seem like something that was spoken out about so publicly; then again, they weren't necessarily in public and a few years had passed by since their last encounter, the woman was only curious, possibly frightened by the aspect of another child showing up. "Well not now, but maybe in the distance future." Nemu remarked; watching as the answer gave truth to the situation and flustered the woman slightly. It was easy to tell she was still uncomfortable with the aspects of this relationship... she imagined that a lot of people would be, but to her it didn't seem so out of the ordinary. Hence why she could handle the topic with some ease. "Do you have a child?"

Frowning briefly, the Fourth Lieutenant gave a light shake of her head that was followed by a brief chuckle. She supposed she could cut the woman some slack... it had been a few years now after all, anyone could have forgotten about her slight uneasiness around smaller bodies. "What? Why would I have a child? Or more importantly, WHO would I have a child with?" Isane commented with a light shrug of her shoulders, but she watched as the other woman seemed to shake her head in mockery of her. "What? I'm serious. Not to mention, I do not at all have the possible time to raise one."

"True, now with Yumichika as a Lieutenant, he's just as busy."

It was an immediate snap into another frown at the words that left the other woman's lips. "Why do you automatically assume it would be with Yumichika?"

Even after all these years, she still remembered the two used to act and carry themselves around one another; it was sight no one could ignore and a lot of the others giggled over. She wouldn't have really said anything about it then but now... well the topic was up and out there anyways. "Isane, everyone knew."

"They did not." she quickly objected.

She started to reply and point out the woman's quick reaction, not to mention the reactive blush that rushed across her face and the obvious signs of flustering that only commonly followed someone being put on the spot; or someone trying to desperately object to something that was stated outright in a rather silent but physical manner. But she stopped when her eyes caught sight of a figure just now walking in through the doorway and moving rather steadily towards their direction. She could already tell by his tense expression that he did not seem to be enjoying himself and appeared to be simply forcing himself to go along with some kind of matter regardless. Sometimes it could take ages to irritate the man, and other times it only took five minutes... this seemed like one of those situations that took up on the latter.

"I apologize for interrupting." Szayel spoke as he approached the two. There was a light sense of surprise to be taken at the observation of their open expressions and upbeat emotions. Well it had been a possible reaction out of many, he didn't really think it had that great of a success rate... perhaps he had miscalculated their previous relationship. "But I need to talk with Kurotsuchi for just a few moments alone."

There was still something off about that man... something she couldn't necessarily put her finger on, but she decided to ignore the feeling as best she could. After hearing what the other, former Lieutenant had to say about him- the appropriate portions anyways- she supposed he wasn't really as bad as her first impression had been. Something about his current expression spoke of irritation though, so she wondered if the Captains might've had something to do with it. Regardless, it would be rude of her to stand between them at this time. "Of course." Isane nodded lightly as she slowly pushed herself back to her feet; hands moving to brush the wrinkles out of her uniform.

"Your Captains are waiting just outside if you wish to go speak with them." he informed.

Hmm perhaps maybe now she could get some insight on what had to have been said before. Still, despite the ongoing awkward situation, she felt a small ping of excitement just the same. The mystery of the whole situation had been unraveled but only she knew the secret from what she could tell... which is what made it almost fun. All these years of tension and loss were finally over, giving in to an ending she didn't predict at all... still she supposed this ending wasn't all that bad. "Can I-?" she started, looking back to the other woman for a moment.

A light chuckle followed her as she figured the woman was going to pose a question like that eventually. And as much as she would rather keep this delicate environment guarded, she didn't want to inhibit the Lieutenant this final sense of happiness and freedom. She gave a light nod and let a small, rare smile catch the corners of her lips. "Go ahead."

The offer didn't go unnoticed though.

"Can I go with her?" Akira questioned, the words half mumbled in sleep as she pushed herself away from the cushion she had made of her mother's side. One hand moved to work the sleep out of her eyes before it pushed aside the messy strands of hair that had fallen into her face. "I want to meet her friends again."

She sighed briefly at the question and watched as the girl gave into a short yawn; fingers moved to help her tuck aside some loose strands that slipped past her grasp. "I don't know, you'll have to ask your father."

Immediately after, she turned those green eyes that mimicked the same shade as her mother's towards him instead. "Dad…"

Damnit, he really hated it when she did that. Pushing up on his glasses, he gave a slight nod. "Go for it. Starrk and Harribel are out there with them." he started, watching as the small girl slowly managed to roll herself over her mother's legs before she moved off the side of the couch as well; the Lieutenant had been standing in wait for her accompany and she hurried to catch up with the woman. He waited till the both of them were at least out of earshot before he let a long sigh pass through his lips. "Who was that?"

Just ever so curious, wasn't he? She figured they would have at least done introductions before... he probably couldn't link names with faces though; or he just hadn't been listening properly beforehand. "That was Isane." she answered, watching as he eventually moved to take the empty space next to her; keeping some amount of space between them... which was odd. "She and I were Lieutenants together in Soul Society; she worked in the Fourth Division, which is where we usually crossed paths all too often."

Yes, he thought that name sounded familiar from somewhere. "What are the odds?" he remarked lightly enough, as he carefully readjusted his glasses once more. "I'm guessing you two were just catching up on old times then?"

"Something like that." Nemu nodded, saying the words with ease as she noticed that he barely seemed to be paying attention to her anyways. It was rare to catch him in a state like this, one where he just seemed as though he was consistently off-guard. "... You can stop worrying about me now."

"I wasn't- okay, yeah I was."

Another light chuckle passed her at his easily broken answer. "You can't fool me."

He bet she just loved getting all of her answers right. Still though, he shared the brief sign of ease and may have let his own chuckle slip just the same. "It was all just a… little surprising that's all." Szayel replied.

She believed every single one of those words... this sudden break of routine and habit was not predicted or even really imagined. Isane had made a remark about how she wished things had gone differently or how she used to have nightmares about the war; she couldn't really say that any of those affected her. Time went on and she moved with it, never once looking at the events that had passed them by. Everything just seemed so at peace here... more so when they locked themselves away into this private little fortress. But those gated walkways and brick walls were bound to break down eventually, right?

Fingers moved forward for a moment to lightly play with the pink strands that ran down along the curve of his neck. She always thought of how funny it was when he turned down every possibility that their child would inherit his signature pink locks, always saying that they would be a recessive gene compared to her more dominant black strands. And yet... look at how their daughter turned out.

"... When you told me that there was someone here who wanted to talk to me, she was the last person I would have imagined." she started. "Which reminds me, if you ever walk off without explaining the full situation to me again-"

He knew she was going to bring that topic up and it was still just as humorous as he thought it would be. Shaking his head, he watched as her expression gave in just a little bit of the overall annoyance at the earlier situation, but hardly enough to make it seem like much of a problem. "I just thought after so long, you might've wanted a little surprise."

"I had a little surprise three years ago." she lightly reminded. "... So what did they say?"

That was another thing he figured would come up sooner or later... and he wasn't necessarily eager to talk about it. He could remember just staring at the Captain with the pink kimono over his shoulders like his entire body had spontaneously burst into flames; the words of his so-called 'deal' were about the same as asking for a public show of a dishonorable suicide. She had every right to know... after all, she was basically the center of it, but he held no want to explain the situation to her.

"Too much to be honest." he eventually answered, certain that his distaste of this overall situation was already apparent to her. "But, they found out a way to get their 'deal' to work. There's still some small details to figure out, but they said it wouldn't take much to run through them and find something to balance them out. Their apparent plan of action would work suitably for them... but it's horrendous; it would hardly be called a fair trade in terms of viewing both sides of the argument. Personally... I don't like it; it's not concrete, it's too uncertain, too rough and I don't think I could allow for it to pass given the circumstances."

"What is it?"