Tsukiro remained quiet and emotionless. No one who looked at him would be able to calculate what dark thoughts clouded his mind. He remained just as he had been for a century now: stoic, cold, and mysterious. Never showing exactly what he was feeling.
"I want to see him," Tsukiro demanded. "I want to see my captain."
Juushiro didn't know what worried him more, Kisuke's screaming into the storm and falling to his knees or Tsukiro's fierce demand followed by stillness. It was clear that Kita's betrayal, whether it be due to Gods or Sousuke Aizen, had pushed them far beyond their limits. And this was far from over. How much more pain and suffering would he bear witness to before the end of this conflict?
When would he finally break?
"I want to see him. I want to see my captain."
Tsukiro's words were spoken in a deliberately neutral voice.
I'll have to watch both of them, he decided. His own grief would have to wait. They were far more important to this struggle than himself.
And he was already marked by one of their opponents.
Juushiro nodded quietly to Tsukiro before kneeling in the snow by Kisuke, setting a hand on his shoulder and speaking in a low voice. "I can't answer your question, old friend. No one can. But we can do as you have done before. Continue our own actions and counterplots to their destruction, be it Gods or Sousuke Aizen. We don't stop fighting and finding loopholes to the disasters set before us."
He picked up Kisuke's hat and held it out to him. "Don't blame yourself, old friend. No one could have done better than you in these circumstances. You protected and prepared them both to the best of your abilities, even more so than Soul Society. Now, we release Kita by letting her go, remembering her as she was, not as she has become when broken, and we add one more reason to the list of why we stand against wrongness. For Kita and Toshiro."
Kisuke took his hat, placing it back on his head. Standing, he offered a hand to Juushiro.
"I will get to the truth,” he told Juuushiro emphatically. “I won't rest until I do."
Then, he looked to Tsukiro. "Lets go. I have work to do when we are finished here.”
Tsukiro nodded.
Kisuke turned from them both and started walking toward the cave once more. He was going to find out what had happened in that cave, and if it meant capturing Kita so he can talk to her, then so be it.
The captain managed a faint smile at Kisuke's declaration and resolute pace, letting him lead. "I'm sure you will, old friend," Juushiro murmured.
The captain’s smile faded once more as he watched Tsukiro pass too, his eyes narrowing. That one's silence deeply troubled him. Starting as a brutal pressure seized his throat, he increased his pace as the small group made their way to the cave, coughing quietly.
