[10th Division] Headquarters & Barracks

[Apollymi]

"Hai, I was last Vice-Captain here, about 60 years ago," she said to explain the emptiness of this room upon the arrival of Raizen. She wasn't very surprised that it had taken Saori a while to consent to taking another Vice-Captain after her, the girl had felt a bit responsible for what happened with Saya, even though that was no ones fault at all. Moving right along it seemed the initial explanation provided by Saya about the small girl she'd kept as an apprentice an extremely long time wasn't enough for Raizen. She hadn't expected it to be, and it was why she'd made the tea. She was sipping from it when she heard out what he had to say about it and she simply shook her head. "Her existence puts her life in danger. It isn't that she lacks strength. She's the strongest member of her family to be born. And it's that strength that'll get her killed," she said not really knowing how to explain it. "Niwatoko is a name which belongs to one of the lesser noble houses, but most people haven't heard of it, couldn't name a single important person with that surname." she said knowing that it didn't make sense. "The family is cursed, and those were the words they used to explain it to me..." she said. She had no idea why she was telling this man anything about this girl, he didn't need to know any of this information and it felt strange to share it, but she supposed there was no real harm in it.

[Bloodedge]

"Her... existence?" he replied immediately. He would of course continue to hear this woman out, as his interest was more than piqued already. It seemed the issue the redhead was having, was one which had become something of a trait in her family. Upon hearing this, Raizen paused his drinking and sighed, lowering his cup slowly. "What you're insinuating is that this Niwatoko family has some sort of curse which dooms them specifically when they are ranked above 5th Seat in the Goteijuusantai. I'd like to call that ridiculous, but I can only assume there is history to back up this outrageous claim." With that said, Raizen fell silent. He began staring into his tea, wondering something within his own mind. 'Mugen... could this be related to why you've been so insistent?'

[Apollymi]

Saya found herself looking at the young Captain before her and giving the smallest of nods. "That is exactly what I'm saying. But... I understand, I also felt like it was ridiculous, so I looked into it," she said. "Tens of generations of men in this family, none live longer than a week or two after receiving a rank higher than fifth seat. I thought it superstitious but it's so consistent its almost scientific." she said. "And you're clever enough that I know you know I said men. Let me clarify, that before Benihime there wasn't a single female born into that family. Apparently it was something of a morbid joke, they only make males and they live hard, marry young and die before 400." she said of the young woman who'd been her best student. "Benihime had 6 brothers, one of whom, was a member of the 7th Division. That boy was a hard worker, he'd apparently decided he wanted nothing to do with a curse or anything like that, the boy changed his surname and lived his life like a layabout. Pretty talented combat specialist though..." she said. "He accompanied his Captain on a mission took a promotion to 3rd seat after proving his worth, and died a week after, defending said Captain's infant son from an assassination attempt," she said more specifically of the girl's immediate family. "This was apparently only a few months after Benihime's birth, so her parents moved her and her remaining siblings out of the Seireitei. They thought she might be able to escape this fate as a girl so they simply left to protect her."

[Bloodedge]

"Yare yare," he said. This was a bothersome bit of news he was receiving about this family now, and his Zanpakutou wasn't seeming very willing to respond to his query. "A family of only men, a death curse, and the only girl born into the family in a desperate struggle to avoid her fate. Interesting." There was quite a bit more to this matter on both ends, Raizen believed, but he thought he could perhaps draw out more information if he gave a little. It was incredibly rare that Raizen was totally clueless about something; now was such a case, though, and he wished to rectify this as soon as possible. Of course, he would aim to do so without revealing too much unnecessary information. "So... I was advised against interactions with this woman, and I'm still looking for the answer as to why. I'd hoped to gain some insight to this, but I'm failing to see any relation between that and this fate of death."

[Apollymi]

"Yeah, that about covers it..." said Saya. She still wasn't all that inclined to understand all of this. But she'd promised to look after the girl when it became obvious she was too strong to hide out in the Rukongai. Raizen went on to reveal that he'd been told by someone to avoid the girl, but Saya couldn't imagine any reason for this, there was nothing she knew that would affect the man. And though it was more than obvious this particular young man didn't like not knowing things, unfortunately, Saya didn't really have any answers for him. "Sumimasen, I've literally told you everything I know with any certainty," she said knowing that if this young man wanted to know the real reason he'd been told to avoid the lass he'd have to ask whoever told him that information.

[Bloodedge]

Sadly, there was no further information to be given by Saya about this issue. If Saya wasn't in the know, and Mugen would not answer him for her own reasons, Raizen was left with little to no choice but to make his own decision. He wouldn't be going without answers, so he'd have to find them without the help of another. "So be it, then. I suppose I'll be going to one of the sources," he said. Just then, his Zanpakutou finally decided to share words with him. 'Ara ara, you're too persistent! If it's only answers you want, you should just go home. Still, stay away from that girl. You have to make me that promise,' she spoke. This brought a grin to the Captain's face as he rose, choosing to go through with this right away. "Right. I suppose I should be going home, then. Keep an eye on things while I'm gone." With that, Raizen would take his leave, unless otherwise interrupted from doing so.

[Apollymi]

Strangely enough the Captain of the 10th Division didn't seem to want to let this go. He even claimed he'd be leaving again to continue seeking sources of information so he could be in the know about the answer to his question. In this particular moment, Saya was reminded of the little redhead she'd helped teach to fight, as once she caught something it seemed to bother her until she knew the answer. Even so, he simply asked her to keep an eye on the division in his stead and that was something Saya could always do. "Hai hai!" was all that was said by this woman as she watched the young man leave and then watched outside of the window for whatever reason while she tried to think only to end up with a headache. 'I don't envy the inquisitiveness of youth...' she thought with a smirk.