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If Saya had any snarky replies to the lad's words, they were probably expressed over the duration of their travels. Regardless of what was said or done on the way to this estate, she'd find herself standing before the main building of her family home. At the door she removed her shoes and walked through with all the authority that would be expected of a young woman with her nature. She'd not been to this place in quite a while herself, and though she didn't miss the toils of the life of nobility, she was a little excited by the prospect of seeing the old man who oversaw this place. Especially given the rather momentous occasion they might be celebrating sometime soon. "I'd tell you to behave yourself, but I don't see it doing any good," she said frowning deeply as they moved towards the room she figured she'd find the old man in. "Just... tone it down a bit, at least if you want this to end without you having to sit through hours worth of lecture about your mouth or behavior. Be a brat on your own time..." she finished as her final words of advice before stopping right in front of a sliding divider.
"Jii-sama, taidama!"
A blink between Saya's arrival and her words to the lad named Shusuke, the Shunpo which carried him behind her reached its end at the front gate. He trailed behind only slightly, but no matter the distance - or lack thereof - between the two, he entered as nonchalantly as one would have if they'd lived in this building a full lifetime. Once his own sandals were discarded and he properly entered the building, a sound mocking that which would accompany spitting escaped the young Shinigami. "Jii-san's not gonna care what I say, but whatever. I'll just give him an earful after I pick up my stuff," he said while traveling down the corridor in Saya's wake.
Moments later, on the other side of the divider, an elderly man stirred. A strained, grisly voice emerged from beyond the physical barrier to address the Vice-Captain. "Hm... Saya. Okaerinasai. Are you ready for the mantle?"
The elder Kisaragi would indeed be found where Saya figured, and upon greeting the girl asked a question which made her sigh. It was one she'd been repeatedly asked, even when she'd gone off to live within the Rukongai doing her own thing she'd thought this answer had become clear. They'd even sent the young Shusuke to her for training, so obviously it was a known fact that Saya would not be taking up this mantle. "Jii-sama, we go through this every time I come here. I don't want it. I've never wanted it. And I never... ever intend to take it. I got back into active duty rotation... I'm happy with that," she muttered. "I mean that of course, with all due respect. Shu-chan wants it, give it to him instead," she mentioned, it seemed like Saya might have said a similar sentence sometime in the past. She had no desire to be part of the politics of clan life, but fully intended to see that the boy had his desires met. "I can attest to his abilities, and the fact that he meets all necessary requirements, including the power of the Shigure Souen within his Zanpakuto," she finished hoping to move this along and free herself to go back into her work life without the idea that someone might try forcing her to come back here.
Shusuke remained silent during the introduction between Saya and her... father? Suddenly, though, something very strange registered in the mind of the would-be family head. A certain revelation resulted in the lad looking toward Saya as if everything she'd ever said to him had been a lie. 'Jii-sama?' he thought, though the clause never left his head, as he wished to avoid as much unnecessary discussion as he could. When Shusuke's name was mentioned by the woman, an audible groan made of nothing more than the pains of old age escaped the elder. "Mrm... Shusuke-kun, mm? You've brought him with you, yes. My senses are not as potent as they once were, but you have no reason to lie about his abilities," the old man spoke as the sound of shifting occurred, signalling his removal from whatever chair he sat in. "Ohh... and neither are these old bones. Funny thing, this life. You can be young for thousands of years, and suddenly it's all gone..." With that said, the family's eldest living member shifted aside the sliding door to view Saya and Shusuke with his own eyes - eyes of gold which were hardly visible behind the saggy, wrinkled flesh of his face, as well as long and silky locks of aged-white hair. "So, yet another successor shows himself in this day and age. I hope the two of you learned to get along in that school of yours. I get the feeling you'll be very used to seeing each other for a long future to come."
"Oi, ojiisan," Shusuke interjected. "Sumimasen. Not to rush or anything, but well, I'm sort of in a rush. So... I'm head of house now, yeah?" he asked, prompting a freshly surprised old man to look toward Saya with eyes as wide as his saggy skin would allow.
"Oh please, you say that every time I see you too. No way there is actually anything wrong with your senses..." she said with a frown on her face. 'Even if you might be senile,' the thought finished up in her head without another word spoken aloud. She'd heard this kind of thing from her grandfather before, still, she saw nothing wrong with the way she addressed him otherwise. She took note of his shuffling and figured he'd be moving about pretty soon, as such she postured herself to follow. The elder Kisaragi's words about another showing themselves and about his hopes of the pair of them getting along just made her frown a bit. "I have no idea why we'd need to get along... but it's not going to make much of a difference right now, Jii-sama," she commented. It was no real secret that she and Shusuke didn't really get along that well, though she looked after the young boy dutifully, they often butted heads. Before she could say anything else on the matter, Shusuke interrupted in his typical bratty fashion. The surprised face, now worn by her grandfather caused Saya to scoff. "Don't look at me. He rushed my office demanding such a thing of me with no explanation... I can't take the blame for it. I am doing what was asked of me... that is all," she said frowning sincerely. The raven haired Saya was content to go back to her office, finish her duties and have her afternoon tea. Such was a regular set of events for her by now and she hardly had any reason to try and do anything outside of this. And with the idea that Shusuke wanted to lead the clan, she hardly had to think she'd ever have to make such an interruption at any other point.
"You may think that, but perhaps you, too, will one day understand..." This intentionally unclear message from the elder accompanied a glance between Saya and her ward and nephew. His senses, both physical and spiritual, had been dulled over a very long life. What's more, he knew exactly why this was the case, and how it could happen to others as it had happened to so many before. This was all only potential, of course, but time would certainly tell. As for why the two of them would need to get along in future, there was more concrete evidence for it coming to light. "It will make a difference in time, Saya. Besides, the two of you are so alike... More than you both are willing to admit, I believe. Shusuke," he said at last, prompting the lad to sigh. "I have to admit to not believing you would make the transition. Still... your heirlooms await in my chambers. Allow me to just--"
The moment his grandfather mentioned the location of his heirlooms, Shusuke perked up. Whatever the man had to say next, he didn't particularly care. Shunpo carried the young Shinigami beyond the elder, into the aforementioned resting place of the latter. Along with this, came only one statement to the old man. "Yeah yeah, no time for responsibilities, got stuff to do!"
A roll of Saya's eyes accompanied the statement that she might come to understand the dulling of the senses in time. If she were being perfectly honest she wasn't particularly fond of these sorts of ominous and intentionally ambiguous messages her grandfather conveyed on such a regular basis. "Well, if you aren't going to say it clearly, it's obviously nothing to worry about," she said crossing her arms over her chest. In moments like these, the rarely disturbed Vice-Captain showed her age, at least relative to those who had a decent bit of age on her. As conversation progressed however, the likeness of Shusuke and Saya was brought up by the elder Kisaragi, if only to make it clear that he knew the two were more alike than they were different. A sigh escaped the young woman and it was audible and huffy. But before commentary could be offered about this, Shusuke was using Shunpo to move past the old man, towards the room that he'd called his to take the heirlooms he'd obviously come for. Saya, knew for a fact that the lad was in a rush and claimed to be in need of clothes, but she hadn't bothered using her brain to try and figure out what could have caused his sense of urgency. "Jeez, kids now don't have any idea how to slow down. What the hell is so important anyways?" she asked now as a simple point of curiosity, though quite honestly it wouldn't surprise her if Shusuke continued in his evasive dodging of this particular question. It could also bare a moment of notice that in this moment, Saya was being just as impatient as Shusuke, albeit for completely different reasons.
Following Shusuke's entry to the room which housed his articles, various items of all sorts began flying through the air, landing both in and outside the room. His movements were a flurry faster than any use of Shunpo he normally bothered with, but eventually, he settled around a corner. This disappearance soon resulted in his Shihakusho gliding its way to the floor as well. Only then did he peek around the corner to address Saya, and the obviously curious elder. "Oh... I'm going to the Tanabata Festival. I can't go to one of those in a Shihakusho, right?" he asked in rhetoric. In that shining moment, Shusuke briefly seemed to have some interest in the festival, though surely this wasn't the case. Regardless of the situation, he emerged wearing a blue, sayagata-patterned kimono over a white kosode and black nagajuban, with white hakama and black tabi. He had accented this ensemble with sangu armor segments taken from a mannequin which, unbeknownst to Shusuke himself, bore the heirlooms of the family's founding member. Shusuke simply thought it fit well with the aesthetics of his Zanpakutou and the diadem he already wore. Upon seeing this look sported by his grandson, the elder was taken aback. He didn't know whether to be furious/blown away by the fact that Shusuke had taken such important items from what should have been a secure resting place, or if he was to rejoice in the sight of what could be the true return of the Kisaragi House's status as it once was when headed by his own forefathers. Regardless, Shusuke took note of the old man's visage, and looked confused himself. "... What? Please don't tell me the look sucks; I can't deal with that right now."
"Tanabata? But... you hate festivals," Saya commented, she'd known about the festival but wasn't going to attend. She'd rather have tea, and would likely by her own approximation end up serving some to her Captain as well. Her words would have gone further but the boy's flurry of motions would soon have him emerge wearing the entire ensemble of their clan's forefathers. She took in the look on the lad and smiled, and though it was small it was quite appreciative of what she was witnessing. She managed not to look as surprised by the boy's behavior as her grandfather did, but she knew it was missing something. A small chuckle came from her as she addressed his apparent need for affirmation. "Iie, it's not a bad look, just incomplete," she mentioned, she walked over to one of the drawers and removed from it, a haramaki. This solid gold plated piece of chest armor, which seemed to be more decorative than functional would soon be draped over the lad's shoulders. Saya herself having moved a great deal faster than normal to make sure Shusuke would have this important piece which wasn't stored with the others for sentimental reasons. "Don't mind Jii-sama, he's probably just a little upset that you are actually wearing the forefather's clothes. Though it's definitely not the first time he's seen this... Sano-chan only managed to take this piece before," she said remembering a similar situation to the one she was currently experiencing and it giving her a happy bit of nostalgia. She recalled her younger brother doing something similar as he took over the clan, though when their grandfather was younger he'd done more to stop this kind of abject thievery. "You could always have your own made," she chided lightly, but she could only imagine what had roped the boy into going to a festival in the first place, so she'd give him his urgency. "But I suppose... it suits you," she said. This was likely one of the most encouraging things that Saya would offer, she was always happy to see her students grow into themselves, even unwilling ones like Shusuke.