"It's not an expectation, Rina-san," Garuda says, smiling back as she smiles. It must have been a traumatic experience in the Rukongai, as he has received reports from squadmates of bandits beating and raping and killing men and women alike. Garuda issued the order that, if a bandit was caught in the act, he or she (gender makes no difference) would be taken and, depending on the severity of the act and the person involved (the poorer the victim, the worse for the assailant), could be killed on-site; rape was instantly a executable offence.

"With a background like yours," Garuda says, reaching across the table to take her hand, "you should, can and will get such a promotion with the right amount of experience. The rarity of having a dual zanpakuto will help that push that promotion because, in the presence of such an anomaly, there has to be strength in order to be able to either control or connect with two spirits and go into battle with them. You can't have your weapon fail." Garuda's fingers moved to intertwine with hers as he speaks in a hushed excitement. "I can't wait to see the first time you release your Shikai, Rina-san; the reiatsu will erupt out of you in a shower of spectacular strength of spirit..." Garuda looks down at her hand in his, and he blushes, not moving his hand.

“I still am not sure that I will wield a dual zanpakutou,” she said as she turned her hand palm to palm onto his. “And I cannot see what my background can have to do with me getting a promotion. All are equal are they not?” Rina asked with a slight bite, she could see that he was no nobility, even if he handled himself with great care. The woman wondered if it was the fact that she was old, abused or samurai that he thought was a good background, by all means, she was all three even if her age did not show much.

As for her weapon, she would never fail a blade, no matter how it looked or acted against her. She knew that the younger man might feel injured by her words, but at the same time he annoyed her and Rina felt the need to strike back. Garuda’s hand was as calloused as her own, long hours holding swords, carrying things, writing, just larger and warmer than her own hand.

“As for my eventual Shikai, I have little hope for it to be as splendid as you say. It will be what it will be and I will be satisfied with it and attempt to learn its’ abilities,” Rina said looking at her hand in his, again avoiding blushing.

"No zanpakuto is equal," Garuda says. "They are as unique as their wielders. Your background makes you unique; I can see the strength in your eyes, though it is not quite in your form just yet; your confidence is shaken with the sound of a second voice. Do not think of that voice as the voice of a stranger, but rather of an ally. Enter a meditative state and attempt to talk to them, converse with them, learn about them. They might have been with you all your life; they might be new friends you have yet to know."

Garuda was trying to help Rina-san get more excited about this new power of hers. Being a wielder of a dual zanpakuto is an anomaly, denoting strength, but it is still a challenge to learn how to wield them as one cohesive unit. Still holding her hand, his thumb gently runs along her thumb caressively. "I just want you to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and not be afraid if you see your spirits in the mirror with you. They are your guides and your guardians: brothers or sisters-in-arms. They will help you become a warrior with no equal and a champion of your beliefs. That is how we are picked."

There was no sting in her words; she had a right to say them. Garuda's excitement helped to soften any blow she have unintentionally cast upon him. However, realizing the meaning of her sharper tone, Garuda withdraws, both his hand and his zeal. "Forgive me," he says. "I didn't mean to offend you or intimidate you. I just want to see the best for you, however you are capable."

“You did not offend me, Garuda-san. Nor did you intimidate me, fear cuts deeper than the sword. Speaking with my sword is very private and yet very strange, they wish to speak with me but deem that I’m not ready yet,” Rina said looking at his retreating hand, she missed the warmth of it in her own. She retracted her hand and pushed her hair behind her ear, the repetitive movement she unconsciously did whenever she was nervous. One of the servants arrived with the meats and vegetables and two bowls of rice.
She smiled as she took a pair of chopsticks and placed some of the raw food onto the grill, she looked up at Garuda. “Whether not I am capable enough only time can judge. And for unique, all souls are unique, I have meet thousands over the years and not one is the other alike,” Rina turned a piece over without really paying attention. She was careful to keep the white kosode away from the heat, and she knew that she moved with fluidity and grace. She enjoyed Garuda’s company and his intellect
.
“Do you wish for some warmed sake to accompany the lunch?” she asked as she leaned back and looked at him again. Rina found herself wondering if Garuda would grow to fear her. She was aware that she could break of the toughest brawl amongst the children with a simple word or act, stem a flood of tears with a touch and stop blood from spilling from wounds with her reiatsu. She hoped that Garuda never would fear her.

Garuda separates his chopsticks as he places a couple strips of meat upon the warm grill. "As they should be," he responds to the numerous people that exist as being unique. "There are some that are more alike than they naturally should be, but even then there are disparities between them." Garuda continued to watch Rina-san closely, dividing his attention between cooking his meal and watching the woman across the table from him. She seemed depressed, also distant, as she held her sleeve back as to keep it from catching on fire. When she asks about the warmed sake, Garuda snaps back to reality; he was daydreaming about a life that was beyond fantasy, involving this woman.

"Hm?" Garuda asks, flipping his beef and looking at the scorch marks on the meat; he smirks and shakes his head. "No thank you, Rina-san. I am not much of a drinker. Feel free to have some yourself. I would like to remember this moment without the liberation of libation, no offence; water will be just fine for me." He smiles at her and places some leafy vegetables on the grill, searing them gently before placing them on top of his rice, with the first strip of beef.

“I like a sip of sake sometimes,” Rina poured new water into her glass; again she looked up at him and smiled. “I prefer tea and water to most things, coffee I learned to like.” She ate the savory meat, enjoying the short silence as they both ate. Rina was not much for talking whilst eating, it simply was not done when she was young, and she had grown accustomed to the children chatting whilst eating but she had mostly listened to their babble. She could dare some words with him, he was young enough not to be offended by talking whilst eating.

“Will you continue to teach classes at the academy?” she asked unexpectedly, she had been offered a place in the divisions; she did however not speak much of it. The woman was not that interested in knowing, she was too leave the academy soon. She looked over at the asauchi, she was determined to wake her zanpakutou, and Rina would need it when she went into the division. The purple-head would also need it to compete with the others; Garuda was one of them she wished to compete. The redhead ate his lunch, and she enjoyed his presence.

Garuda was silent, not wishing to disturb the meal. Her company was enjoyable to say the least, cooking what food he was hungry for before eating it with his rice. When she asked about him still teaching at the academy, all he could do was shrug. "I don't know what my schedule will be like," he says after swallowing a mouthful of rice and beef. "I might keep teaching. I might end up taking my division on patrol out in the human world or the Rukongai. I can't tell you, I'm afraid, Rina-san."

Garuda caught her glances towards the weapons laid aside. He could sense a feeling of wonder and determination coming from her, and it put a smile on his face. "They will release," he says, watching her closely. "Just keep that faith in yourself." He takes another sip of water. Once again, Garuda reaches out and takes her by the hand, the hand not being used for food obviously, gently stroking it. "Where's that smile?" he says, sounding a little cheesy.

Rina laughed at his words, he meant to amuse her and lighten her heart. He got her smile, a real honest smile, her guards lowered more and more against this lieutenant, she held onto his hand. She knew that it would not be proper to fall for him like this, she could not really help it though, he saw into her in a way that not many did.

“I will keep my faith. I promise you that, I will release my zanpakutou, achieve Shikai and master it,” Rina assured him as she took another bite of her lunch. “After all, I would disappoint many others if I fail in my aspiring career.” Too true words; there might be less need of the orphanage than before, and they did not need her to run at least and she had enjoyed learning more about her powers.

“The living world have changed much since my death, I do not know if I can face that world, I think I would feel like an alien. There was a song: I’m an alien, an illegal alien, something, I think I would feel like that,” Rina said finally blushing against Garuda. She placed her chopsticks down and covered her mouth and lower face but her green eyes still look into his. “It would be strange to be sent there.”

"The world is always changing, Rina-san," Garuda says, gripping her hand. "That is why the Rukongai looks like Karakura Town at the time of Aizen's attack. That is why the Seireitei looks like a bustling metropolis. We no longer live in a feudal time, though we choose to remain as traditional as we can. In essence, we are the last of the samurai that existed many millenia in the past. Our traditions are akin to those who lived before even us; you possibly lived alongside them." Garuda took a stab at her age; age is just a number.

Garuda, boldly, takes Rina-san's hand, pulls it to his lips and kisses her knuckles gently. "You are beautiful, your style is impeccable, your combat training is sound, your power is great; never lose your nerve, never lose sight of your goals, never quit until the last breath itself is forcefully sucked from your body." Garuda turns bright red, practically professing his love.

Rina blushed hard when Garuda kissed her hand, her breath hitching slightly. This was too swift; she would not be able to do this, too quickly.

“Garuda-san, this,” she started as she gently pulled her hand free, she could not treat him so badly, tears built up in her eyes as she rose. “I cannot move so rapidly, it goes against my upbringing.” She felt the hot tears on her cheeks as she exited the private room, she even used shunpo to exit hastier, Jiro would understand, it was not the first time she had left him so suddenly. Rina came to one of huge trees of the Academy, she sunk down the trunk and sobbed into her hands, she behaved horrible against Garuda.

She allowed fear rule her, as it had that morning she had ran into the forest outside Rukongai, she was a coward and a runner. She continued to cry, hearing words from her distant past; Fear cuts deeper than the sword.

Garuda was as red as his hair. He couldn't believe the words he let come from his mouth. They were too sudden, too strong, too many and too much. Her upbringing be damned, it was just unacceptable the way he almost forced himself upon her. If Garuda had been more careful, this dinner would have been a more joyous occasion. Sombre and sullen, Garuda finishes his food as best he can, rings a bell and leaves money on the table to cover the meal and a whole bottle of sake before using his own shunpo to escape the suddenly-claustrophobic conditions of the private dining room. He reappears in his office, popping the top of the bottle before taking a full swallow of the intoxicating beverage as he looks out the window, watching a cloud pass over the setting sun. It was less than a couple minutes before the sun was uncovered.

This acted as an omen for Garuda, one of good fortune. The first impression he left in Rina-san's heart would be the one she'd remember most fondly; she would forgive the advances of a young man, as he did not attempt to pursue her to force her into anything she would not handle. He would be no Rukongai ruffian that wronged her; he is a seated officer of the Gotei 13, lieutenant and vice-captain of the 7th Division. This division stood for courage and for righting wrongs. Komamura-taicho was a strong moral leader, defending the weak and saving those less fortunate. Garuda followed in those footsteps as best he could, in the boosting of confidence within the heart of a presently-frightened woman. Garuda would fall asleep in the chair at his desk, plastered as the empty sake bottle is held onto by a virtually lifeless hand.