"Why should I care? She made her choice."
“Aww… Is the Guardian feeling neglected from his Seraph?” She said with a sarcastic tone.
He glared at her, "What's it matter to you how I feel?"
Phoenix laughed slightly. “It don’t, but if I am going to get you to do your job I have to figure out a way to motivate you and if your Seraph is the only way to do it. Then I need to find out a way to get her back with you.” She tilted her head slightly. “You know. You spoke of family and friends. I guess she would be the only thing you have ever known for centuries.” She looked to him once more. “So wouldn't you want to save--” Phoenix thought for a second then asked him.
“Your love??” She looked at him with questioning eyes.
He thought silently for a moment, "She loves another, she seems happier with him. Why should I stand between that?"
"Besides, it's not like they will kill her. She will probably be sent to that shopkeepers."
“Ah, yes she does. But he does not return her love. He loves another.”
She looked quickly to him with his next statement. “THAT Shopkeeper? Do I hear a touch of jealousy there?” She did not give him time to answer. “The Old Man is going to kill her. She will not escape this fate if someone does not save her. She is weak from being away from the espada Ulquiorra and being held in the Nest. If she makes it till the execution I will be surprised.”
"Even if I save her, she will have to return to that bat! Even then she will be away from me, so again why should I care?"
Phoenix shrugged and turned from him as she walked toward the front of the cave. “I guess you shouldn't. After all, you have ignored her this long. Why not let her just die? But… when someone else saves her and you show no effort in the job you were created for. I will be back for your life. But that’s your choice, right?” Phoenix sighed heavily. “It will break her heart to know her best friend cared so little for her.”
"Is there a way to free her from Ulquiorra?"
Phoenix paused and looked over her shoulder at him with questioning eyes. “Is there a way?” She grinned and turned fully around. “THAT Shopkeeper. He has almost gotten it figured out. All he needs is…” She reached above her head and slowly pulled a small glass orb from thin air, “the Hougyoku.” She grinned wide. “Yes, there is a way.”
"But will you allow him to use it?" He narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion.
Phoenix looked at the Hougyoku and smiled. “Will I let him use it? Hm?” She tossed the Hougyoku upward and it vanished. “It all depends on her answer.” She sighed and tilted her head looking at the Guardian. “And right now no one has given her a reason to give the correct answer.”
Phoenix walked toward the Guardian again. “You asked why she wanted to save them and I did not give you an answer. But if you think back. It is your fault she feels and acts the way she does now. This was your doing. The Sumi I knew would have cared less if they lived or died. But a certain Captain decided Sumi needed to know what it was like to have emotions and a heart. I still wonder if his heart was in the right place when he did this. Why did he want her to be able to care, love, cry and laugh?” She looked to him reaching her hand forward. “What was his motive in this? And I wonder what he would say today if he were here if I told him the reason she sealed him was to keep him safe because she loved him.”
She rested her hand to the top of his head her hand started to glow a bright red. “A blast from the past Toshiro Hitsugaya. It's time to remember.”
